“What’s that?” Penny said, laying half on top of him.
“I’d say the Air Force has arrived. Great.” He pushed himself up off the bed and twisted around to see out the porthole. The hull of a large helicopter was sweeping by, “USN” emblazoned on its tail.
“They’re here, all right, though in a Navy chopper. Looks like they’re getting ready to lower someone down.”
“Can’t they land on the helipad?”
“Not this thing, it’s as big as a semi.”
The sucking of the rotors made a sickening pressure in his ears. The engine started to throttle up again.
“He’s right over us. We’d better go up.”
Penny lurched out of bed and buttoned her shirt.
“The whales can’t be loving this.”
“It sounded like they made their approach from behind us, so maybe they’ll be all right.”
He rolled out of bed and pulled on his clothes. As he was slipping on his cross trainers, she leaned over his back, brushed the hair back from his ear and quickly kissed him. They headed out to the companionway. As they rushed up the steps, the huge helicopter seemed to blot out the sky as it relentlessly chopped the air to chum. It hovered above the ship, becoming almost a fixed point. A man in uniform swung out of the helicopter’s hatch, suspended on a tethered sling.
Penny gazed up at the man who had become a slowly oscillating pendulum. “He’s smiling, at least.”
Dirk and another of the Valentina’s crew steadied the man as he neared the open deck. When his feet made contact, he unhooked a clasp and hand signaled to one of the chopper’s crewmen who knelt in the open hatchway. Almost immediately the line retracted. An orange plastic net with bundles of bags was then hooked on and let down.
“Doesn’t look like just a quick visit to me!” Becka yelled, loudly enough for everyone to hear, even over the din of the chopper.
Their visitor had meanwhile climbed out of the sling, and hooked it back on the line. The chopper’s crew hauled it up and began to slowly slip astern in the Valentina’s wake. The man left on deck was dressed in the uniform of an air force officer. He looked back at the hulking machine floating incongruously in the air and saluted just before they swung around and sped away.
He advanced toward Thorssen who greeted his salute with a simple handshake and a few words. The blondish officer was younger than Matthew, maybe in his late twenties. His easy smile complemented his relaxed and confident posture. He had the bearing of someone who was used to being reckoned the sharpest knife in the drawer.
“Becka’s right,” Matthew said to Penny. “Judging from his gear, he’s going to be here for a while.”
“Along with some missing pieces of our puzzle, most likely.”
“Maybe, but will he let us play with them?”
Instead of answering, she walked over to the young officer and introduced herself. When she got an even wider smile back, Matthew was annoyed, but even more annoyed for feeling the way he suddenly did. He was debating whether to introduce himself as well, when a female voice with a tone like an automated answering service came from over his shoulder. “The welcoming ceremony seems more than adequately covered,” she said.
Mary Sims, the whale cataloger. She stared at the new arrival, who was still grinning at Penny.
“Such a bore,” she said, coming around to face him. “Breakfast?”