Butler Did It! (10 page)

“Get some flashlights,” he yelled back
at the chimney, and then remembered the two-way radio tucked in his
belt. “I mean, bring some flashlights, over.” He said into the
radio.

“Yeah, we heard you the first time,”
Tommy shot back, immediately.

“How did he get here?” Butler asked
Katharine.

“I was diving, taking photographs,” she
said, indicating her discarded dive equipment farther down on the
shelf, “and he fell into the water from a big yacht that was out
there. His hands were tied and I think he’s been tortured. They
were shooting into the water at him, so I pulled him in here
through the undersea entrance.” Katharine said.

“Okay,” said Butler, now understanding
most of the situation. “Let me get another couple of guys down here
and then we’ll see what we can do to get your friend out of
here.”

He went back up the chimney and
Katharine crouched next to Kobi. “He’s getting some help,” she
whispered to the unconscious man, “it’s going to be
okay.”

Up on top Matthew took the flashlight
and the nylon ropes his men had brought and turned to Tommy’s
questioning face.

“Yes, there’s a man down there, he’s
unconscious, looks in pretty bad shape.”

“’
I’ll go back down with our
two strongest crewmen. We’ll tie the ropes around him.” Butler
explained. “When I give the signal, pull very slowly. We’ll try to
support him as much as we can, but it’ll get kind of tricky in the
chimney.”

“Near the top you’re going to have to
get behind him and support him until we can pull his body over the
edge of the hole.” Tommy calculated.

EB had just arrived after radioing the
ship from the Duck. “It’s a wounded man,” he explained to her,
“tell the Captain to keep an eye out for that black yacht we saw
leaving just as we were getting ready to drop anchor. They may be
dangerous.”

“Got it,” she said and turned
immediately to return to the boat.

Butler went back down the hole, this
time juggling ropes and a flashlight. His two helpers followed
behind him. Butler handed the flashlight to Katharine to hold while
he and the two crewmembers started making a cradle out of rope to
lift the unconscious man. Butler used the towels he had asked for
to wrap around the ropes, so that they would not cut into the man’s
bruised skin.

“Do you know his name?” He asked
Katharine.

“Kobi,” she said, “that’s what he told
me.”

Gently they lifted Kobi and ran the
padded ropes under his body. One loop went under his armpits, and
was attached to an improvised belaying harness around his hips.
Then they wrapped his arms in close to his body, so that they would
not hit anything on the way out.

Butler spoke into the radio he was
holding. “Get ready,” he said.

Tommy signaled the rest of the crew
standing there and they all grabbed on to the rope, ready to pull.
“Remember, pull slowly,” instructed Tommy.

“OK, go easy.” The radio
directed.

As the rope slowly tightened, Butler
supported Kobi’s head while the other two men lifted his body and
moved out into the cavern. It was not easy to keep him above water
as they crossed the narrow passage. The man groaned and tried to
thrash a bit, but he was weak and the ropes held him
easily.

When they got Kobi to the bottom of the
chimney Butler could see Chan straddled across the top, ready to
take over as soon as Kobi was within reach. Butler knew that Chan
could easily lift Kobi and would be able to guide him through the
difficult turn that was required at the top.

“Keep pulling,” Tommy told his helpers.
He stepped up to assist Chan as they pulled the unconscious man
slowly out of the hole. They carried him across the now muddied
pool and lay him on the dry sand of the tidal lagoon.

Tommy whistled, “Look at this guy; he’s
been through the grinder for sure!”

Chan gave Katharine a hand out of the
hole, followed by Butler and his two helpers. Tommy and five other
people gently lifted Kobi and carried him through the greenery and
out onto the beach. Maurice had the Rusty Duck fired up and they
laid him on the seats, with Chan stepping in to hold Kobi in place.
Katharine, Tommy and Butler piled in.

Within moments, the DUKW had charged
down the beach and into the surf, racing away toward the white ship
anchored half a mile out to sea. With Maurice at the helm, Butler
got on the radio.

“Pelican, do you copy?” he
asked.

“Go ahead Rusty Duck.” the female voice
on the other end of the conversation could barely be heard above
the roar of the Duck’s engine at full throttle.

“Pelican, prepare to board a wounded
man, repeat wounded man. We’ll come in the front door, copy?”
Butler shot back.

“You’re bringing a wounded man through
the front door - affirmative!” The voice replied.

“Duck out.” Butler hung up the
microphone.

EB smiled as she sat down next to
Katherine. “Hang on” she suggested. The boat slammed the waves as
the DUKW sped toward the big ship.

Katharine could see the name “Butler
Project” painted in large pale letters on the sides of the ship as
they approached. Her jaw dropped as she saw the entire front end of
the ship opening up. The two broad steel doors, which made up the
prow of the ship, swung wide just above the water line. She watched
as a ramp extended out of the big square opening like a tongue
coming out of the dark mouth of a Leviathan.

She gave a squeak of terror as Maurice
expertly ran the Duck at full speed right onto the ramp and up into
the belly of the ship. He drove the craft like a car through a huge
space filled with vehicles and odd-looking equipment. Butler smiled
at her startled look. “Our ship is an LST,” he said, “designed in
World War Two for landing tanks onshore. It makes it easy for us to
drive our vehicles in and out.” They came to a stop in front of a
group of waiting crewmembers. A grey bearded man, who seemed to be
a doctor, stepped forward and looked the patient over
quickly.

“Let’s get him to the sickbay,” Doc
commanded. Four crewmembers gently lifted the small man onto a
stretcher. With a nod in their direction, the doctor followed as
they hustled the stretcher into a freight elevator.

“Don’t worry,” Butler advised. “Doc’s
one of the best.”

Butler stuck out his hand. “I’m Matthew
Butler,” he said.

Katharine took a good look at Matthew
Butler for the first time. Tall and muscular in a pair of baggy
knee-length swim trunks, his wavy, sun-bleached hair hung slightly
over his blue eyes.
Even a gold earring
her inner thoughts
noted.

Gathering her wits Katherine took his
hand, “Katherine Annenberg,” she said, returning his firm
handshake. “Thank you so much for rescuing us.”

“Oh, that’s quite alright. We were
between heroic deeds and your arrival was most fortuitous. Now, may
I have the pleasure of introducing you to these two
reprobates?”

“This Silver-haired gentleman is our
esteemed teacher, Yan Yu Chan,” he said. The old man gave her a nod
and grunted.

“And this is my associate and famous
sand artist Tommy Cooper.” He said, indicating the short, muscular
man next to her.

“Hi, howareya,” said Tommy shaking her
hand.

“Sorry I crashed your party,” said
Katherine.

“More like crashed into it,” laughed
Butler. “Tommy may never build another sand sculpture as grand as
that one. Just don’t ask what it was going to be.”

“It would have won awards,” moaned
Tommy.

“So, what happened?” asked
Butler.

“I really don’t know,” she answered.
“He just dropped into the water in front of me and then they were
shooting and I just grabbed him and got out of there. We’ve been
hiding in the blowhole most of the day. I don’t know why they were
shooting at him.” Her explanation, as brief as it was, all came out
in a slightly hysterical rush.

Understanding that she was having
difficulty, Butler nodded and gave the girl an out.

“Let’s get him taken care of and then
we’ll see if we can figure it out,” he said. Seeing the man’s
friendly blue-eyed smile, Katherine discovered the tension she had
been holding herself together with ease a little bit.

The humor in Butler’s eyes changed to
concern as he looked down into Katherine’s face. She had begun to
shake, more from the shock than from cold. Now that the excitement
was over, she was rebounding from the hours of stress.

Salvador came through the doors at that
moment with some towels draped over his arm. “Doc says you can all
relax a little. Your friend is stable and there’s no new bleeding.
We won’t know more until he wakes up.” Turning to Katharine, he
offered her a large beach towel. “Doc said you did a good job of
taking care of him,” he commented.

Enchanted by the young man’s luxurious
Spanish accent, Katherine thanked him and gratefully wrapped the
towel around her shoulders. Despite its immediate fleecy warmth,
she shivered violently. Through all of that long day, she had kept
her emotions at bay and now she was paying the price. She fought
hard to keep tears out of her eyes.

“Thank you, Salvador,” Butler said.
“Would you go to my cabin and see if you can find a warm shirt for
Miss Annenberg, and then go to Mrs. Yan and sweet talk her out of a
cup of that fine soup stock she always has on the stove. We’ll be
in the main galley.” Salvador set off at a run.

A fast ascent in the freight elevator
brought them up one deck. With Butler’s strong arms supporting her
shaky body, it was only a short walk to the main Mess
hall.

Soon Katherine sat wrapped in a big,
comfy denim shirt as well as a soft blanket, which Salvador had
brought her. She cradled the steaming cup of broth and inhaled its
tantalizing smell. Her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten
since the sweet roll and fruit she had snagged on her way out of
the hotel before dawn. The picnic lunch the hotel had provided was
still in her knapsack somewhere on the sea bottom

<<>>

The airy dining room was filling up
with people. It seemed everyone wanted to hear Katherine's story.
Seeing her look of apprehension at the gathering crowd, Butler
murmured, “It's better if they all hear the story from you; it'll
cut down on the gossip. Okay, why don’t you start with who you
are?”

“My name is Katherine Annenberg…”she
began, then went on to tell them about herself and her hopes at
SUBIOS

The warm clothing and the hot soup were
doing their job. Butler noticed that Katherine had stopped
shaking.

“So while I was here, I wanted to get
some good images to help pay for the trip. That’s why I was diving
this morning. I was looking for the perfect photograph. And, the
most amazing thing happened; I got some shots of a Coelacanth! This
would have been a big discovery if I could have published the
photos. Unfortunately, those bastards took my camera. I had to
leave it on the reef when I rescued Kobi. I saw one of their divers
hand it up into the boat. Those photographs could have made my
career.”

“These people you mentioned, are they
the ones who beat up your friend?”

“Yes, they hung around looking for us
for hours.”

“Why don’t you tell us about the man in
the infirmary?”

“I really don’t know anything about
him.”

Over the next few moments, she told
them about his sudden descent into the water and of the desperate
hours spent hiding in the blowhole.

“I think it may have been the arrival
of your ship that made them finally leave,” she answered, smiling
at Butler.

“Glad we could oblige,” he grinned
back. “Would you recognize any of these bad guys, or their boat if
you saw them again?”

“She confirmed Matthew’s suspicion that
the dark yacht they had seen leaving the area was the ship Kobi had
escaped from. When she told them of the search and the man with the
black eye patch Tommy interrupted.

“Really, a black eye patch?” Tommy
asked, mildly surprised. “I thought those went out of style with
the Pirates of the Spanish Main.”

“I saw the black yacht you’re talking
about as we approached Little Curieus,” Captain Z offered. “It
looked like a custom built job.

Just then, the rest of the people who
had been at the party on the island arrived, carrying hot grilled
seafood and a pot of Creole Gumbo brought by Joe, Captain Z’s’
friend from The Seychelles. Katherine realized how hungry she was
and eagerly joined in with the rest of the crew and their guests in
this impromptu meal.

When they had finished eating, Mrs. Yan
came up to the table. The tiny woman put her hands on her hips and
said, “Mr. Butler this young lady needs rest. You make Salvador
take her to an empty cabin where she can have some
quiet.”

Butler nodded, “You’re right Mrs. Yan,”
he said. Turning to Katherine, he offered her the hospitality of
the Pelican. “You can stay here on the ship tonight. Get some rest,
and we’ll iron everything out in the morning, okay?”