February – Richardson, Birch Bay and February Highs
© Copyright by John B. Gargett 2008/2009 All Rights Reserved
Sunday morning, while Ruth was lying in Adam’s arms rocking with the waves inside the Master Stateroom on the S/V Misty Dawn in Blaine, Northwest Flight 7 was landing at SeaTac. On board, Hugh Johns was happy to be home. He had spent the last two months on another around the world trip. St. Petersburg, Kuala Lumpur, Auckland, and Tokyo. Hugh, a Past Commodore for the Bellingham Yacht Club, has a job that takes him around the world more often then he likes. Since 1989 Hugh had worked in over forty countries and flown over 3 million miles.
Most of his work the last few years has been implementing technologies for crisis, emergency, and risk management systems but also was known for his ability to analyze an organizations structure and recommend improvements to that structure. While in KL, he was not really sure who his client was, corporate had told him it was the Security Department of an oil company. There is, however, only one Government run Oil Company is Malaysia and it was not their headquarters he visited – it was on office in the KL Towers, and they had all the presence, but Hugh was not really sure. However, they had paid the bills, clearly were connected with someone, and were very genuine. He was just never convinced whom they actually were with. But then he knew better than to ask and it really did not matter to him anyway.
Hugh was looking forward to Fridays at Five where he would be able to see his friends again. Of course with the places Hugh travels, and working in places that most people could not put on a map, many believed he worked for the CIA or some other alphabet agency. He gave up trying to convince anyone he didn’t, it only made them more convinced he was. Besides, Hugh found it rather funny. He really is nothing more than a glorified software salesman who is able to analyze organizations, help build the right teams within the organization, train them and then implement technologies to support them. He had, of course, run into a number of colorful characters over the years, from Mullahs in Somalia to drinks with several Prime Ministers and Presidents. But to Hugh, they were just good stories. What he had found is that everyone in the world had the same goals. Maybe different religions, different cultures, different races, but people around the world were good. Hugh Johns really just enjoyed the San Juan and Gulf Islands, cruising on any boat and enjoying his friends.
On the southwest end of Lopez Island, at the entrance to Mackaye Harbor (in Jones Bay), there are the remains of a famous old burned Richardson General Store. The Store was on the register of historic places and was built on pilings over the water. Fisherman, sailors and, during prohibition (it is said), always found it a safe harbor. The Seattle Times described it in one of their travel editions “At the turn of the century, Richardson was a major port of the islands and the general store a favorite meeting place. Farmers needing to ship produce to Puget Sound markets via steamship would gather at the store. Fishermen would unload their catches at the wharf, then stop in to buy supplies and swap news with cannery workers…Old-timers and yellowing newspapers describe the San Juan Channel choked with salmon, the wharf loud with activity and the general store a place with standing room only.”
Bahdoon found out about the history of the Richardson General Store when Suegali suggested he read old stories about the days of prohibition to get a few tips for smuggling. It was a good suggestion and he had found several good drop points. He had found that before you make the turn into Jones Bay from the Straits of Juan De Fuca, there are half a dozen or so small islands that are not advisable to try to navigate through since the water can be extremely shallow, currents fast and shoals dangerous. There is, however, one-way you can get through there with high water and careful navigation. Bahdoon wanted the Pender Pirates to smuggle a large quantity of Ecstasy, LSD and BC Bud between Charles and Long Island at 48.444369 N 122.916955 W, just east of Hall Island.
Running LSD and Ecstasy requires extra work. Smuggling BC Bud is straightforward – vacuum pack each pound with a Seal-a-Meal, pack them into fifty pound bales, add a RFID tag, and smuggle it. If the Bud gets a little wet it is no big deal. Ecstasy and LSD are different. They get wet and the shipment is lost. A lost shipment makes for an early retirement. Prepping is the same except instead of putting the drugs into a bale, they use 8” PVC pipe with the ends glued and sealed. One end is weighted down so it sinks to a depth of about three feet. When they are tossed overboard, they are connected with six feet of line between them. With the RFID tags on each pipe they are easy to detect and retrieve.
Tracy and William Lewis joined the Bellingham Yacht Club a couple years ago after moving up to the Northwest from Santa Rosa California. When they moved up they brought their new 28’ Albin Tournament Express with all the tricks, all the electronics and all the speed. Tracy had made a “boatload” of money (she liked to say) in software in the Bay area, and they had decided to retire in what they considered the most beautiful place in the world. William was raised in Victoria and his parents had sold their boat they moored at Oak Bay Marina. Tracy and William took the moorage over. Their fellow boaters at the Yacht Club had turned them on to the Pender Pirates for boat maintenance. The thing that Tracy and William really liked was that the guys would run their boat over to Bellingham when they wanted it, then take the Victoria Star back to Victoria.
When Bahdoon gave the float plan to the guys, they immediately knew the best choice was the Lewis’s Albin. It only had a 3’ foot draft and cruised smoothly at 25 knots. It topped out just over 30 knots. The electronics were the best. So after heading out past the Chain Islets, down Plumper Passage and into the Strait, it only took them 43 minutes to reach the turn between Hall Island and Secar Rock. Slowing to 11 knots, they made their drop less than an hour after leaving. Since they were making such great time they decided to have some fun and circumnavigate San Juan Island. The February Highs had moved in and the water was calm, the winds light. It was sunny, and the Pender Pirates were making another $25,000 each. They were cruising. An hour and eighteen minutes later they were tying up back at the Oak Bay Marina. Life was good.
On the ferry back to Otter Bay, Derek wondered why an emergency was never declared on their preplanned channel 69. After all, they had been smuggling drugs for three years now and never had been intercepted, stopped or chased. He wondered if Bahdoon had an inside guy with DHS. Bahdoon did not. And neither did Suegali. Suegali learned during the civil wars and occupation by the UN “Peacekeepers” in his homeland that the best way to beat them was to watch them. Like the kids in the streets of Mogadishu who watched and reported, Suegali had built a network of watchers around the San Juan and Gulf Islands. Some watchers watched homeports like the Stations in Bellingham and Port Angeles, so they knew when the boats were in, when they were out, and what the schedules were. Other watchers kept eyes on the skies and the water from bluffs like the Point Whitehorn Marine Reserve at Cherry Point and Lovers Leap on Stewart Island. Some watched the CBP Air Unit at Bellingham International Airport. The fact was, when Derek and the boys went out, schedules had been checked, spotters were observing and technology was delivering.
Suegali was a big believer in technology. It made things run like clockwork. Between Twitter, Google Groups, LinkedIn, SharePoint, ORCAS, WebEX, Facebook, MySpace and with a whole lot of other commercial technologies he was running his empire from wherever he is. In fact, when the Pender Pirates were running the drugs off Richardson, Suegali was in Honolulu taking a couple days off before an operation in South America. It was simple. With high tech tools, low-tech watchers, no runs at night, never using the same boat, different drop points, and the predictability of the Government shifts, it was a walk in the park. It was the same all over the world. While some Governments suspected him, none had caught him.
Ruth La Blanca had gone through a long divorce in 2007. She had not dated until she met Adam Julia. Ruth had two daughters, 32 and 26. The youngest was married and living in West Creek New Jersey. The older one was teaching English in Merida, Yucatan Mexico. Everyone at the Rustic Coffee was happy for Ruth. Jill and Ruth had become quite close and classic girl talk had Jill knowing almost as much as if she was dating Adam. Ruth felt, with caution that Adam was falling for her. After all, the weather was still in the 20’s at night, but the S/V Misty Dawn was anything but cold when they were on board together. For a reality check, Ruth asked Jill if they could go up to Vancouver for a girls weekend. Ruth really wanted to get some serious girl talk in about Adam.
Adam was happy with that since he needed to go up to Blaine to look at a sailboat. He also wanted to look at a cabin in Birch Bay. He had met a woman at the Yacht Club who owned a small resort and had a cabin available until June. As much as he liked the Misty Dawn, he needed to get closer to Blaine – had a lot to accomplish in the next few months. He had just received an Invitation to Connect on LinkedIn with David Harris. That was his go message.
He had never met the people who run Global Transnational, they had hired him like everyone else, quietly and indirectly. Adam did not even know he had been hired full time, he thought he was just on a consulting gig in Romania in ‘89. But then the contracts just kept on coming. In 1992 after his election work in Guyana he found out he had a retirement plan. In ‘95 during his assignment in Kobe he was found out he had a job for life after saving the leadership of Global Transnational from a collapsed building. He did not know that was whom he saved; he was there to study with a little known, but growing group, called the Aum Shinrikyo.
Why Global Transnational wanted him to cause such a massive international incident on the border of Canada he did not know. He did know that in every job he had done, in retrospect, good had come of it. Romania was free and in NATO, Guyana had free elections for the first time in 35 years, Aum Shinrikyo was put away. There were other consultancies, and Adam was not without guilty feelings about what some of his actions had caused. Change did not come without a price. He had, after September 11th, been told who he really worked for, but he had never met all of them, he had only met a woman named Susan who was his go between.
And yet, maybe some good would come of his relationship with Ruth. Adam was no stranger to women, women of many nationalities, races and religions. Ruth was a toxic mixture of Hispanic blood, Caribbean skin and Oriental beauty. The two of them certainly had gotten to know each other on board his boat. He looked forward to the fact they had at least until October to be together. Adam wanted the cabin on the beach so he could spend evenings in front of a beach fire with Ruth. There was something special about her. There was also something good about the people in the Bellingham Yacht Club and something good about this area. He liked it here in Bellingham.
In Victoria seven of the Somali Warlords had found jobs. Two of them had gotten jobs helping a Whale Boat operator as crew. Their experience with fast boats on the open sea did the job. Three were working on the docks in Victoria where the cruise ships came in, one as a janitor, the other two as stevedores. The other five all had interviews the next week. It would be another seven months before they put their plan into action. In that time, the weapons would be delivered, the plan exercised and executed.
Is Adam questioning his life and looking to settle down? Are Global Transnational and the Suegali Warlords working together? What is the connection between the Bellingham Yacht Club and Poets Cove? Find out next month in the next edition of “Pirates of Poets Cove”
Credits for Images:
Richardson Store Historical Photos:
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lopezislandhistory/3_richardson_a_busy_port.html and www.lopezlibrary.org/history.html
Beach Fire http://farm1.static.flickr.com/77/160780987_8d86b6d5ef.jpg?v=0
Dance Legs http://www.xperiencedays.com/prodimages/1823.jpg
AK-47 http://www.irandefence.net/showthread.php?t=18333
