Dan Barns: Problem Solver

Chapter Four

I have learned sometimes that the risk is worth it and sometimes it is not. This is going to half to be a good risk. As I make the hard turn "We are no match for them in open water. There is a small island up here and it will allow us to play a little hide and go seek with these men." I said as I patted her shoulder. A little boat with a small engine and a crew of two verses a twenty man boat, sounds like battleship to me. Time to level the field and get to my ground. I am no sea dog and there was a storm brewing. Lightning was off in the distance was getting closer and the water was getting rough and this boat was a shoreline boat not a wide open ocean boat. The storm was moving faster as it got closer to the islands in the area.

The waves were about four foot and getting higher. I felt the boat having trouble managing the current, so I turned into the current. I could see some of the reef and debris. The ride in was choppy and the patrol boat was closing in. We scraped a time or two or three times. I knew the patrol boat would have more trouble than we did. I finally seen a beach area that we could land the boat at. I also notice a small hole in the bottom of the boat from one of the hits. The island came up just in time for her not to notice the water coming in the back of the boat.

When we beached the boat, I pulled it up further on the beach, then covered the boat with sea weed. I handed her a backpack, I put my two on and off we went. We made our way around the large rocks on the beach and made our way into the undergrowth of the island. The patrol boat was scouting the island. It could not get closer than two hundred yards due to the swell of the ocean and the reef that surrounded it. I could here the slow down and see the spotlight scan over the beach. They were circling the island and try to see if they could spot us.

We ducked behind some of the larger rocks on the edge of the beach. I could feel the warmth of the volcano mountain behind me. That may have been my overactive imagination, but it still felt warmer than on the water. The rain was beginning to fall. I grabbed the rain gear out and we put it on. We sat in the rain for about two trips around with the patrol boat. Finally when it moved to the other side of the island and we moved in toward the mountain and off the beach. I knew she was uncomfortable, and so was I. I pulled out a small radio and turned it to the channel that the patrol boat was using.

I could hear the order for a helicopter and the search on the island ordered started again. She look relieved as the rain got harder. Then a look of worry started to become noticeable on her face. "Don't worry, I have been in worse and come out of it. This too shall pass like the storm." I said as the radio came to life saying a hurricane had formed ten miles south of us. "Now you can panic." I said with a smile. We had to find a cave and get penned down. I had her stay with the gear as I went back to the boat to I grabbed all the stuff from the boat that we could carry. I slid the boat into a wedge of rocks, and led her around the mountain looking for a cave or deep cavern that we could take refuge in.

I pulled out the radio, again and tuned it to the frequency that my company used and called in. "This is hillbilly. Anyone listening?"

"Go ahead Hillbilly. This is the Crow." The radio answered back.

" I have a smoking mountain and a twister bearing down on us. We need rescue after storm. Will need some help. Big bear circled us twice and returned home. Asking for eagle help for tomorrow. Not one of my better vacations, pizza guy. Need to order a hamburger pizza and two large sprites to go as soon as you are able."

She started laughing. "You made no sense. You were just talking off the top of your head." she said with a smile.

"No, I said I have you. We are in the path of the hurricane, Wait till storm is gone to get us and we will be hungry when you pick us up. I let them know your friends are looking for us and have ordered a fly over. I also let them know where we are without telling those after us. It is simple and I am always Hillbilly and pizza guy is my handler sometimes." I said with a smile and realized I had found a cave with some depth to it. It went twenty five feet back, then turned at a ten degree angle. I sat her down in the cave, and gathered some wood for a fire.