Calypso's Mast

Chapter 16 - The Bunker

Pitcher strained her ears to hear, listening intently for some clue that everything may not be right. It was really dark now and there was no moon. She had her knees up to her chin and hugged them close while she peered into the dark.

How could Banning see where he was going?

She used the time by herself to think – trying to make some sense of the last few days. She thought about O'Grady and prayed that she was alright.

Occasionally there would be a rustle somewhere in the scrub and she would hold her breath in fear wondering if it was a crocodile or a snake but nothing ever came of it and after a while, she would release her breath in relief and have a mild panic attack wondering whether she would get out of this alive. If only Suzi was here with her, she would feel a lot safer. Suzi was so loyal and protective. That's precisely what she needed right now.

Suddenly a dark shape materialised stealthily in front of her and reached out to her. She opened her mouth to scream, eyes wide with terror.

"Shhh, it's just me," Banning whispered. "For God's sake, don't scream. We'll have half the country coming over to see what's going on."

She closed her mouth and jumping off the little platform, flung her arms around him in an embrace that clearly told him she was very glad he was back.

He couldn't help smiling to himself in the dark and returned the embrace. When she finally stepped back, he asked," Are you ok?"

"I think so. I was scared out of my brain, the whole time you were gone."

"Hmmm. I could tell."

She dropped her gaze. "Don't get any ideas," she said. "It's not that I like you, it's just that I don't want to get eaten by some wild animal in this place."

He chuckled softly.

She ignored him. "What did you see?"

He suddenly went serious. 

"Ok. The landscape's changed," he said. "We have landed in the middle of God knows what. There's some sort of a submarine halfway down the next beach just offshore and a huge camp with floodlights and vehicles and boats and barbed wire just up from the high water mark."

"A submarine?" her voice was incredulous. "What's a submarine doing here? It must be Navy."

"I don't think so. Military don't use microlights. They use jets and tanks and helicopters. These guys had small boats, microlights, four wheel drives, trucks and a submarine. "

"Who else has submarines besides the Navy?" Then realisation began to dawn on her face. "You know who these people are?" she whispered. "They must be drug smugglers! I read in the news that the Columbians were building their own submarines to smuggle drugs. I wonder if that's it?"

"You may be right..." his voice trailed off and she could see he was thinking hard.

"We're a long way from Columbia," he mused out loud. "I don't know of anyone else who builds submarines although there are the Barrier Reef Tour companies but they are tiny little things. This one is huge like the size of a navy sub. Who could afford to build something like that? It would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars."

She pondered for a moment. "I guess if you brought in one big shipment undetected you could carry hundreds of millions of dollars in drugs in something that size. It would pay for itself on its first trip."

She thought some more and her heart sank. "This means we're dead if they find us, doesn't it? Especially if they realise we know where they are and what they are up to."