Chapter 22
Police Headquarters
601 Franklin D. Roosevelt Avenue
San Juan
Puerto Rico
7:40 a.m.
Sergeant Trevor Bolt had watched in disbelief as the MD 500 police helicopter flew over the beach. He had been viewing the live video feed coming back from the helicopter as it flew over the Blue Emerald Bay resort. His initial impression had been that it seemed to be strangely quiet, with few guests or personnel moving around the resort. Then he had seen the first of the men in fancy dress. At first he had dismissed them as revelers from a party that the Blue Emerald must have staged, but then he saw a couple of them emerge from a building leading a number of guests forward in front of them, marshaling them forward with what appeared to be old fashioned cutlasses and pistols.
When the helicopter had circled back over the front entrance, he had seen that the gates were locked tightly shut, and that several men were positioned at the top of the gates looking out over the approaching roads. At least one of them seemed to be carrying a long rifle.
The local police car from the nearest police station had still not made its drive-by, and when Trevor Bolt tried to raise them on the radio, he couldn't. He called the Captain at their station, and told them to contact him immediately the car arrived and called back into the station with a report.
As the helicopter flew over the trees and swept over the beach, Sergeant Bolt was both stunned and alarmed by the sight of more men on the beach, dressed up as what could best be described as 'pirates'. They were loading barrels and boxes into a boat.
As the helicopter tried to film the beach activity in more detail, one of the men looked up at the helicopter and fired at it.
The cameraman was badly hit, and the helicopter immediately withdrew and flew to the nearest hospital. As it headed out to sea across the bay, the camera caught sight of a large, old-fashioned sailing ship. Men were clambering up and down nets and lines which had been lowered over the ship's side, and a pulley was busy pulling up boxes and barrels from a boat which was tied up alongside to the ship.
The men on the ship looked up as the helicopter flew overhead.
If it had not been for the fact that one of the 'pirates' had just fired upon and wounded one of his men, Sergeant Trevor Bolt may have wondered if the hotel was actually being used as the setting for a film, however the moment a weapon had been discharged, the situation took on an entirely new dimension.
Even before he had managed to place a call to his superior, a policeman came into the room with several new pieces of news: firstly, someone at the resort, presumably the resort manager, had pressed the alarm button that was linked directly from the resort to the local police-station. Secondly, several guests and staff members at the resort had dialed emergency numbers and called both the local police station, and the police headquarters in San Juan: there had been two reports of the sound of gunfire, and one had called claiming she had been taken hostage and was now sitting with hundreds of other guests on the floor of the main restaurant, being watched over and threatened by armed terrorists.
Without further hesitation, Sergeant Trevor Bolt picked up the phone and dialed the number of the Police Superintendent, the highest ranking police officer on the island.
Within thirty minutes, a task force had been assembled and its first meeting was underway. The police in Puerto Rico had been training for the possibility of a Mumbai style terrorist attack on a hotel for several years, and once the Police Superintendent had given the order, the rather aptly named Operation Cutlass had been put into action.
The room was full of senior police officers, a couple of politicians, the Associate Superintendent, the Auxiliary Superintendent of Field Operations, and the Police Superintendent himself.
As all the selected police officers and resources throughout Puerto Rico were being assembled and put on alert, Sergeant Trevor Bolt addressed the task force, first briefing them on the chain of events so far, and then replaying and showing them all a video of what the helicopter had seen on its flight over the resort.
As soon as the video had been viewed, the Superintendent stepped into a private office and called his superior in the US.
Within minutes of explaining that the hotel under attack was the Blue Emerald Bay, sections of the FBI and the Puerto Rican National Guard and the U.S. Army had been alerted.
Ten minutes later, the President of the United States of America called the Superintendent of Puerto Rico personally.
Ever since he had seen a copy of the guest list from the hotel, the Superintendent had been expecting the call: one of the guests staying at the Blue Emerald was the President's nephew.
As the air-ambulance flew towards the beach of the Blue Emerald Bay, all eyes in the Operation Cutlass incident room were on the large video screen: both the pilots and one of the medical staff on the air ambulance helicopter had been swapped for experienced policemen, trained and skilled for operations such as these. Their job was to learn as much as possible about the situation in the Blue Emerald and to brief the task force with as much local intelligence as possible, before the army or police response unit was sent in.
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The Blue Emerald Bay Resort
The Beach
Puerto Rico
As the air ambulance lowered itself gently onto the sand, the pirates on the beach ran in panic to the shelter of the trees. On the boat being rowed towards the shore, two of the pirates dived into the water and started swimming back to the Sea Dancer. Both the pirates who were helping carry the stretcher with the wounded guard on it, hurriedly lowered their charge to the ground, and were about to run away too, when Captain McGregor reached out and grabbed them.
"If this woman is not scared of the Sky Monster, then we must not be either. Stand your ground, or answer to me!"
The two men looked hurriedly up at the 'Sky Monster' now touching down on the sand, back at their Captain and then dived to the ground where they stood, burying their heads underneath their arms and their faces in the sand.
In spite of the fear that Captain Rob felt himself, he managed to pluck up the courage to stand his ground, albeit minus his hat which had once again been blown off his head and across the sand.
Sally stared at the pirates, amazed by their reaction.
"Have you never seen a helicopter before?" she asked the self-declared Captain of the most feared pirates in the Caribbean.
"A 'heli-kopter'?" he asked, looking back at the sky monster. "So that is what you call the Sky Monster? ?The Sky Monster will transport this man to your hospital? It will not eat him or kill him?"
"Eat him?" In spite of everything, Sally could not help but laugh.
In front of them, a door to the side of the helicopter slid open and three men jumped down onto the sand.
Two of the men rushed toward the guard on the stretcher, while the other walked across to Sally and tried to speak with her.
Captain Rob stepped forward, introducing his cutlass between the man and Miss Sally, and pushing him gently back
Instinctively Captain Rob recognised something different in the demeanor of the man wishing to speak with Sally. The man looked at him, showing no signs of fear, but when Captain Rob held his gaze, he stepped slowly backwards, turning instead to survey the beach. After glancing around, he bent down to speak with the doctor who was helping to get the wounded man into the belly of the Sky Monster 'heli-kopter'.
Once again Captain Rob stepped forward and pushed the man backwards with the cutlass. McGregor then stepped up beside Sally's doctor, now standing, and put a firm hand on his wrist, saying loudly: "Doctor, you will stay here. I need you to come aboard my ship and attend to my men!"
They pushed the stretcher with the wounded man firmly into the helicopter, and stepped back.
The man standing at the point of Captain McGregor's cutlass shouted, "How many more men are wounded or in need of assistance?"
Captain McGregor replied, "None that
you need concern yourself with. You may depart now. Away with you! And don't come back unless ye want us to shoot your bird down out of the sky!"
The man hesitated, and then turned around and climbed back into the Sky Monster with the others. As the Sky Monster began to roar louder and louder, the wind around those left on the beach started to swirl the sand around in circles in the air. Dr Mitchell pulled Captain McGregor away from the downdraft, and they stood under the trees watching the helicopter rise into the air and fly out of the bay, getting smaller and smaller until eventually it disappeared from sight.
"Come now, Doctor. And please bring your magic bag of tricks that I have seen you carry. I wish that you now practice your magic on my men, and save their lives too. I will give you a gold doubloon for every man that you cure! And to prove that I am a man of my word, here is one for you to consider as down payment for the first life!"
The Captain unfastened a small leather bag which was attached to his breeches, reached inside and pulled out a single, bright colored coin. He tossed it through the air to the doctor, and smiled.
"Don't worry," the Captain laughed. "There is plenty more where that came from!"
As they sat in the pinnace, being rowed out to the Sea Dancer by two men, surrounded by several barrels and boxes full of food, the Doctor studied the coin in his hand, marveling at its weight and luster.
"Is this real?" he asked the pirate leader.
"Are you calling me a liar and cheat? I am a man of my word! That doubloon is almost as new as a babies rear-end! See how it shines..."
"But the date on the coin says '1698'!"
"Exactly, it less than a year old!"
"Where did you get it from?"
"A friend who wanted to share his fortune with others less fortunate than himself. I was merely happy to oblige him in his philanthropic desires..." the Captain replied, and then laughed.
The Doctor tossed the coin across to the resort manager, and watched as she too studied the coin.
"If, as you say, Captain McGregor," Sally began to ask. "?you have a number of these gold coins, why did you not seek to buy food and water, like normal people - instead of stealing it? These are very valuable!"
"Buy? Food and water from the Spanish, with Spanish coinage that we took from Spaniards? A novel idea, I grant you that, but not one that we considered too seriously. For obvious reasons."
"What obvious reasons? We are not Spanish. We are Americans. This is Puerto Rico not Spain!"
"A-mericans? Who? You jest, and you mock me, do you not? Think ye that I am not a learned man? I know well who owns Puerto Rico, and it is not these A-mericans you speak of, or the British. Do not take me for a fool."
Sally sat silently for a moment, studying the pirate leader's face and features.
"Captain McGregor, Puerto Rico has belonged to America since it was successfully invaded and captured during the Spanish-American war in 1898. And since 1917, all Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens, thanks to the Jones Act of that year. This is very much American soil now, and has nothing more to do with the Spanish."
The Captain's face became serious.
"1917? You jest again. I tire of your jokes, and I do not understand that of which you now speak. This is not 1917, this is but 1699!"
"1917? Sorry, that was almost a hundred years ago...the year is now 2014..."
"STOP! Enough! I have heard enough. The year is 1699, and I wish you now to remain quiet."
Sitting beside Sally and facing the Captain, Dr Mitchell reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin, tossing it across to the Captain.
"You gave me one, and now I return the favor. That is a dime, one of the coins we use in Puerto Rico. Turn it over, and look at the date, just underneath the bottom of the head."
Captain McGregor raised the coin up and stared at it, looking for the date as suggested. Sally and the doctor both watched the expression on his face, easily noticing the moment when the Captain found the date, and his jaw dropped open, his eyes looking up and staring first at Sally and then the doctor.
"2005? What does this number mean? What does 2-0-0-5 mean?"
"It means that it is an old coin. It is almost nine years old now."
"Show me another!" the Captain demanded.
The doctor reached back into his pocket and pulled out a couple of coins, passing them across to the Captain, who grabbed them and glanced rapidly at each one in turn.
"...And, look at this," the doctor continued, reaching into his bag and pulling out a bottle. "This is disinfectant to clean wounds. Look here," the doctor pointed to some writing on the bottle. "This tells us the date the medicine has to be used by. What date does that say?"
The Captain took the bottle from the doctor's outstretched hands, and hastily looked at the number he had pointed to.
"2015. What trickery is this?"
"None. It is telling us that the medicine it contains has to be used within the next year. Before the year 2015."
The Captain became silent, and both the doctor and the resort manager noticed the obvious signs of confusion that registered on the man's face. Several times he opened his mouth to speak, then said nothing.
Eventually he spoke.
"Miss Sally, are ye a Christian lady?"
"Yes, I am."
"And ye would not blaspheme? Or take the Lord's name in vain?"
"Unlike a pirate, I would not."
"Then swear in the name of God, that what you tell me is the truth. That this is not a trick! That you are not a witch, and that all...", the Captain gestured wildly with his hands, sweeping them through the air, "...that all of this is real!"
"Captain McGregor," Sally replied. "I swear to you, in God's Holy name, that this is truly the year 2014. 2014 Anno Domini. The two thousand and fourteenth year of Our Lord. And as you are a man of your word, I promise you that I am a woman of mine, and that I now tell you the truth!"
The Captain was studying her face with an intensity that she had seldom seen on any person before. As she replied, his eyebrows lifted wide above his eyes, and he whistled.
"Then, if this is the year 2014, I know now why my men are sick and so hungry! We have not slept or eaten for over three hundred and fifteen years! God help us all!"