Chapter 8
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Naomi listened while Trent contacted somebody named Oakley, a name she remembered from their rescue.
“Hey. … Yeah, no, I’m sitting here with her right now. We were wondering if the drug seizure helped our case at all.” He listened for a moment, then looking over at her, he said to Oakley, “Hang on. I’ll put you on Speaker, and then I won’t have to repeat it afterward.”
She listened in as Oakley explained that one of the drug runners had been on his first trip with the group, and he was more than willing to give evidence against the others.
He mentioned that something had gone wrong with the communication between their people, and that another boat should have been around for them to move off part of the goods.
When that one failed to appear, arrangements were made for a quick replacement boat to show up instead.
“But the alternate boat itself wasn’t at the right place at the right time, something about a mix-up, and so the guys with the drugs took off. However, when they did, they caught the attention of the Coast Guard and were taken down.”
Oakley continued. “Our informant did share that some error had been involved. He didn’t know much, only that the replacement boat showed up, but the other drug runners were not the ones they met up with—instead some woman and a kid.
That caused everybody a whole lot of problems because the replacement boat had been a temporary hire, and they were mostly family men.
Thus, nobody wanted to permanently take care of business. ”
“So, that was us,” she exclaimed into the phone.
“Yes, it would appear to be. We’re still trying to get confirmation, but no way this informant would have known about you guys if he hadn’t had something to do with the entire drug-running operation.”
“Good God,” she muttered. “How was that even a thing?”
“For one thing, somehow that text went to you, and then you responded. Apparently they seemed to think it was a reasonable response. So, they came to the docks, looking for you.”
Trent turned to her. “You told me that you were looking for the boat. Did you get a dock number?”
“I did. It was from the text,” she said, with a nod. “Then we showed up, couldn’t find the family. So those men approached us, asking who I was looking for, and I said, the family, how they had texted that they were coming here.”
“What was their response?”
“One of the men laughed and asked, What dock number? And I didn’t even think about it. I told him, This one. Something came over their faces. Next thing I know, we were being led onto their boat, and you know the rest.”
Oakley stated, “That confirms that much. Now, you also know about the other two guys, the pair who left your vessel to climb aboard another one, right?”
Naomi nodded. “I saw them communicating with another ship that drew up alongside ours.” She turned to Trent. “We never did that sketch, did we?”
Trent nodded. “No, but we will now because we must get the rest of these characters who are part of this mess.”
She asked. “So that confirms we were taken by accident, right?”
“Yes, it appears to be.”
It took a minute, but she smiled and perked up. “In that case, we’re also not in any danger now,” she cried out in joy, “which will help us both sleep a whole lot better tonight.”
“I’m sorry,” Trent responded. “I didn’t realize how much that was bothering you.”
“Not so much bothering me, just that this wasn’t over. That was what it really came down to. I mean, from Ricky’s perspective, it’s been just one endless nightmare. You saw him. He was trying to learn knots today so that, if we ever got tied up again, he would know how to undo them.”
Oakley paused at that and asked, “Seriously?”
“Yeah, seriously,” she confirmed, emphasizing her words.
“But you also have to understand,” Trent added, for Oakley’s benefit, “that Ricky is gifted beyond his years, and he is reading algebra, trigonometry, aviation disaster research, knot tying, and all kinds of other textbooks.”
Oakley muttered, “So, for him to do the knot thing, that’s just a logical step for him.”
“And it is a logical step,” Naomi confirmed, turning to Trent. “I didn’t even think about it, but he did.”
Oakley added, “Well, let’s hope that nobody thinks you present any danger to anyone. Have you had anybody hanging around, making it look like you were potentially in trouble?”
“Not necessarily,” she began. Then faced Trent. “You saw somebody, and you took off and had us come up alone.”
“I did,” he confirmed, “but it wasn’t anything.”
“Well, there you go,” she said in delight. “It should be all good then.”
Trent smiled and nodded. “It should be, yes.”
But still she worried about that little hesitant note in his tone, though she didn’t say anything.