MacMillan Wharf

MacMillan Wharf: Chapter Twenty-Nine

MacMillan Wharf: Chapter Twenty-Nine

by Richard Gifford

The Wild Thing passed the stone jetty that protects the inner harbor from severe weather. Beyond that was an area where many larger sail and power boats had anchored for the weekend. Angus opened his backpack and removed the Glock pistol that he had sealed in a plastic bag. He was satisfied that it was dry as he slid a loaded clip into the handle.

The boat’s driver looked down when he heard the click of the magazine. “Are you going to kill me?” he said with a lump in his throat.

“Not if I don’t have to.” Angus was genuinely trying to find a way to let this poor sod off the hook. If he were caught, he’d be facing enough charges. He saw two lifejackets under the seat and had an idea. “Put this on.”

The man donned the vest and buckled the straps. “Now what?”

“Get out.”

“What?”

“Get out of the boat,” Angus demanded as he pointed the gun at the man’s head. “You can swim to one of those other boats. I really don’t want to kill you, but I’m taking your boat. I’ll leave it for you in Boston.”

Angus watched as the man stepped away from the controls and walked to the stern. Without another word, he turned around and jumped overboard and began swimming toward another boat moored 100 yards away.

Angus tucked the gun into the waistband of his soaking wet trousers and pushed the throttles forward. He was pressed into his seat as nearly 600 horsepower came to life. The sound of the engines was deafening as he headed towards open water at seventy miles per hour.

“C’mon Annie, he’s getting away,” Chief Souza shouted.

She turned the key in the ignition and both engines immediately started. “Clear the lines!” she yelled.

“Clear!”

Chief Souza threw the ropes onto the dock and nearly lost his footing as Annie slammed the motors into reverse and backed out of the slip.

“Hold on,” she said.

The chief turned the VHF radio to channel 16 which the Coast Guard monitored around the clock.

“U.S. Coast Guard, this is Chief Souza, Provincetown Police. We are in pursuit of a speedboat with an armed suspect on board. Can you provide us with backup? Over.”

“Roger that, Chief. This is Petty Officer 2nd Class Richmond. We’ll certainly help you out. Give me a minute and I’ll find out what assets are available. Over.”

“Thank you. I’ll be standing by.”

Annie cleared the breakwater and could see the Wild Thing rounding the tip of Provincetown at Long Point, nearly two miles out. She pushed the throttles all the way forward and felt the boat respond immediately.

“Hopefully the Coast Guard can help us out. That’s a really fast boat he’s got and he’s got quite a lead,” Annie said.

“What’s that in the water?” the chief asked.

“It’s a man. He’s waving for help. We’ve got to stop.”

Annie pulled the boat alongside the floating man and Chief Souza reached out to grab hold of his hand and helped pull him on board.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Annie asked him.

“Some nut stole my boat. He pointed a gun at my head and told me to get out and swim. Says he’s taking it to Boston.”

“So there’s no other hostages on board?” Chief Souza asked.

“No. It was just me. I brought my family over for the weekend. My wife and her sister are shopping in town. I was just getting ready to watch the fireworks.”

Chief Souza turned his head and looked at Annie. “Hit it. We’ve got a boat to catch.”

She quickly pushed both throttles forward again and they were on the move.

“How fast can that thing go?” she demanded of her new crewmate.

“ I’ve had her up to eighty-five on a flat calm day, but with this chop, he’d be crazy to open her all the way up.”

“Unfortunately, this guy’s crazy.” Chief Souza sighed. “What’s your name?”

“Stan Goldman.”

“OK, Stan. You’re with us now. We’ve got to catch the man who stole your boat, not just so that you can get it back, but he’s wanted on charges of assault and he’s now the lead suspect in a murder investigation.”

Stan’s eyes widened. “OK. Do whatever you need to do.”

The VHF radio crackled. “Coast Guard to Provincetown Police Chief, do you copy?”

“Yes, I copy. What have you got for me?”

“Sir, we have a cutter near the east end of Cape Cod Canal, but it will take nearly an hour to get to Provincetown. Do you know the direction the suspect is heading?”

“Apparently, he’s trying to get to Boston. Can you head that way and try to intercept?”

“Yes, I’ll let the ship know. In the meantime, we’ve launched a Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod. That’s a very fast bird, sir. They ought to be on him in about twenty minutes.”

“Very good. Thanks for your assistance. I’ll let you know if we need anything else. Out.”

“How’s a helicopter going to stop him?” Annie asked.

“Ever since the Coast Guard became part of Homeland Security, they’ve been armed. They didn’t used to, but now they carry 50-caliber machine guns, just like the Hueys did back in Vietnam. And they’re fast too, they can reach nearly 200 miles per hour. Once they catch up to him, they can force him to stop, one way or another.” He paused, “Stan, do you have insurance on that boat?”

He moaned his reply, which Chief Souza took as a no.

“We’ll see what we can do,” he said, patting Stan on the shoulder.

The trio rounded Long Point and could see the rooster tail wake of the Wild Thing in the distance. Even though they were over a mile away, they could hear the engines screaming.
Chief Souza looked over his shoulder and in the dwindling light could see a column of thick, black smoke rising nearly as high as the Pilgrim Monument. He pressed his radio transmitter button and was instantly connected to the Police Dispatcher.

“Carla, we’re in pursuit of the suspect and waiting for Coast Guard backup. I can see smoke coming from town. What’s going on?”

“There’s a building fire on Commercial Street in the East End. The Dharma Gallery just exploded. All the windows for a block around it are blown out. The fire department is there now, but there’s nothing much left.”

“That’s Mary Ellen’s place. What the hell is going on?” Chief shouted over the whine of the motors.

“Oh, my god. I was just there,” Annie gasped.

“What do you mean you were just there?”

“Mary Ellen called and asked me to stop in to feed her cat. I did, and then I tried to find the backup copy of the report on Linda’s laptop computer.”

“Did you?”

“No, it’s password protected, and I don’t know the password.”

“Did you leave the gas on or smell anything burning?”

“No, nothing. I just fed the cat and sat down at the computer. I was only there about twenty minutes before I came to meet you.”

“Did anyone follow you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. There was a weird guy outside my apartment just before I went to the gallery.”

“I don’t know what’s going on Annie, but I don’t like it. It’s not just a coincidence that Linda was killed, and then two days later, her house goes up in flames. Someone’s out to cover his tracks.”

“I’m scared, Chief, I’ll admit that, but right now all I want to do is catch this guy and find out if he’s the one behind all of this.”

“You and me both.”

Angus looked down at his instrument cluster. He was doing a steady seventy-five miles per hour. At this speed, he would be in Boston in about fifty minutes. He was planning to scuttle the boat, get to his car, and leave this whole mess behind, but as he felt confident that he would get away, a red light started blinking next to the oil pressure gauge for the port-side engine.

“Damn it,” he shouted.

Turning around, he saw grey smoke pouring out of the engine hatch. Angus watched the needle on the oil pressure gauge drop and the temperature rise. He would have to shut down one engine.

He pulled the left throttle all the way back to cut the power. As he did, he heard a loud blast and saw the engine cover blow off and smoke pour out. The explosion knocked him off his feet. As he fell, Angus gashed his head on a chrome grab handle next to the cabin entrance.

“Bloody hell!” he shouted as he got back onto his feet. He pressed his hand to the wound above his right eye and it came away covered in blood. The other engine was still running, but he knew that his speed would be half of what it had been before, at best. He looked toward the stern, and was relieved to see that there was no fire. What he could see, however, was a boat closing on him at a high rate of speed.

Annie pointed towards the darkening horizon. “Look, there’s smoke coming from his boat!”

“What do you think happened?” Chief Souza asked.

“Probably blew an engine driving like a maniac. And that’s not his boat, it’s mine,” Stan reminded Annie.

“He’s still moving, but I think we’ll catch him,” Annie shouted.

“Look, at ten o’clock. Here comes the chopper.” Chief Souza pointed to the sky.

Angus saw the helicopter, too. “Uh oh.” he muttered. He slammed the throttle all the way forward, pushing his one good engine to its limit. He knew that he couldn’t outrun the helicopter and that his best bet was to make it back to land. He turned the wheel hard to the right and held on tight as he spun the boat around to face his pursuers.

“He’s turning around. What’s he doing?” Annie asked.

“He’s trying to scare us. Don’t let him, just keep going,” Chief Souza ordered as he unholstered his gun.

The two boats closed on each other with a combined speed of nearly eighty miles per hour. From fifty yards away, Angus saw who was chasing him.

He gritted his teeth and snarled, “You stupid little girl. You’ve no idea who you’re messing with.” With his gun in hand, he took aim at Annie.

The windshield in front of her shattered as the bullet just missed Annie’s head.

“Get down, he’s shooting at us!” Chief Souza yelled. Stan hit the deck as Chief Souza leaned over the side of the boat to return fire. “Annie, are you OK?”

“I’m fine. Don’t let him get away.”

“I’m not planning on it.” Chief Souza fired three times, but all three shots missed.

Angus ducked down, then as he was about to pass the other boat, fired a shot directly at Chief Souza.

The bullet hit him in the shoulder. Annie screamed as she saw Chief Souza drop his gun and fall backwards onto the deck.

As the Wild Thing passed them, Angus kept shooting until his clip was empty. He put his final shots directly into the outboard motors. Both engines immediately stopped running and caught fire. Annie watched with disbelief as the Wild Thing roared by.

“Oh, my god, oh, my god” Stan kept repeating. He was covered in the chief’s blood.

Without hesitation, Annie grabbed the VHF radio. “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, We need help!” she shouted. “A police officer’s been shot, and our engines are on fire.”

“Copy that, Provincetown PD. We see you. Do you have a life raft?”

Annie looked around and saw the Zodiac lashed to the deck. “Stan, untie that inflatable boat.”
He scrambled to his feet and followed her orders as the flames grew higher behind him.
Chief Souza groaned from the deck. “I’m okay Annie, tell them to catch that son of a bitch and come back for me later.”

“Like hell, Chief, you’ve been shot.”

“Give me that.” He sat up and took the microphone in his good hand. “This is Chief Souza. We are launching a life raft right now. My wounds are only superficial. This suspect is armed and dangerous, don’t let him get away.”

By this time the helicopter was hovering almost directly over them.

“Roger that, Chief. We have a cutter on the way to your location now. They’ll pick you up in about fifteen minutes. Don’t worry Chief, this guy’s not getting away.”

“It’s ready,” Stan called out.

“Let’s go.” Annie helped lift Chief Souza to his feet and Stan guided him into the Zodiac. Annie started the outboard motor and as soon as all three were sitting, she revved the engine to put some distance between them and the burning boat. When they were about two hundred feet away, the fuel tanks on the rescue boat exploded sending a huge fireball into the night sky.

The three of them watching in awe as pieces of burning wreckage sank into the ocean.

“Are you really OK, Chief?”

“He just caught the top of my shoulder. I’ll live.”

“So what are we supposed to do now?” Stan asked.

“Wait for rescue,” responded the chief as he gripped his shoulder.

Annie added, “And hope they kill that bastard.”