CONDOR ROCK

Wednesday 0625, Condor Rock, 2.7 kilometres off the Namibian coastal town of Swakopmund. On the Sea Witch, all engines had stopped. Kurt made his way down the gangway to his cabin and along the corridor to Analise’s. He tapped on the door three times. No sounds came from within. He tapped again, still no response. He tried the door and it opened before him. For a moment he stood in the doorway, the first rays of the sun warming his back, probing past him and fingering the crystal lamp holders, throwing little sparkles of light all around the cabin.
He looked at the serenely beautiful face turned towards him. Analise looked so beautiful in this light, even without make-up. He moved closer. She stirred a little. Sitting on the edge of the bunk, he gently caressed her cheek. She sighed and nuzzled his hand. He felt something stir inside him. Could she still be in love with him, did she know that the hand was his?

Oh for her to open her eyes, swing back the sheets and beckon him into the bed. He bent down and kissed her forehead and whispered close to her uppermost ear “Come on sleepy head, wakey, wakey.” Then as he got no response, he grasped her shoulders, shook them and said in a much louder voice, “Lisa, wake up, we are at Condor Rock.”
“Hmmmm? Hey, what? Oh yes, thank you – ok, give me ten minutes and I’ll join you up top. Are the others up yet?”
“No, only Rafi and me.”
“Ok, you go and get Tom up, I’ll wake Margie. Ask Rafi to get a report ready, I want to be sure everything’s fine.”
“Sure, but why shouldn’t it be?”
“Just to be sure, we’ve got to put our lives in the reliability of this boat later.”
“Absolutely, yes, it will be ok. Do you know that once it reached the spot where we were just 300 metres from that sandy beach, it stopped its own engines, we did not have to do a thing. That’s pretty impressive, hey?”
“What about the anchors?”
“Rafi and Tom will drop them – we wanted to wake you first so that the noise didn’t scare everyone.”

Analise climbed out of bed and headed towards the shower. Kurt turned and left the cabin and went up onto deck where he met Rafi.
“Got to drop anchor, can you help?”
“Thought Tom might want to do that, I’m about to wake him. Lisa has asked for a status report on the boat and its systems, make sure it’s ok for later.”
“Sure, ok, I’ll wait for Tom, tell him to hurry, there’s a strong current out there, I don’t want us drifting away from the Rock.”
“OK.”
“Is breakfast on the go yet?”
“Lisa will rouse Margie and they’ll get it going.”
“Right, I’ll be back down in about 20 mins, I hope it’s ready then, I’m starving.”
“OK, I’m off to get Tom.”

Kurt watched the huge St Helenan lumber off up the steps to do the system checks Analise wanted, then he turned and dropped down the flight of steps to the gangway below and stood beside the window outside Tom’s door. The dawn breaking over the Namib in the distance was breathtaking, he was glad to have been up to see it. For several minutes he was quite distracted by it and almost forgot about waking Tom. Then he shook himself and tore his eyes away from the window and turned towards Tom’s door. He tapped on the door. Just as with Analise, there was no response. He knocked a little harder and called out, “Tom, Tom, come on, wake up. You can’t have gone back to sleep, you only came down 40 minutes ago…. TOM!”
There was still no response; he tried the door handle and the door opened. He reached for the light switch as the sun didn’t penetrate Tom’s room like it had Analise’s. The small cabin was bathed in light. Tom’s bunk was empty. He checked the bathroom, no-one there either.

Where WAS Tom? Kurt felt a mild panic start, what if he’d fallen overboard, he was tired. By now he’d be shark’s breakfast. Kurt shuddered, he didn't wish to consider that option. What if he’d slipped and was lying unconscious somewhere. He decided that he needed to get the others involved and expedite a search quickly. He rushed to the galley where he knew Analise and Margie would be.
He burst through the door to the stateroom and almost broke his neck trying to get to the galley door. He thrust open the galley door.
“Lisa, Margie, Tom’s not in his cabin, his bed’s not been slept in, I think we need to ……” he broke off as his eyes fell upon Tom leaning against the worktop, coffee cup in his hand.

“Sorry my friend, didn’t mean to give you a fright.”
“Did you come straight down here at 5:45 when Rafi released you then?”
Analise answered before Tom could, “No Kurt, I got him up at the same time as I got Margie up at 6:30.”
“Along with Margie you mean?” asked Kurt, giving Tom a look as he did so.
“Yes Kurt.”
“Tom, you sly goat! Margie, how long has this been going on?”
“Only just, since we went back to Cape Town.”
“Well, I’m almost speechless! Tom, you haven’t said anything so far, what have you got to say, eh, come on?”
“Nothing, it just happened, we seemed to fit together, that’s all.”

“Twenty years ago you’d have been arrested you know.”
“Twenty years ago I’d be ten years old, and it couldn’t have happened.”
“You know what I mean!”
“Margie, how do you feel about this?”
“I don’t have to answer to you Kurt, whatever I feel and do is my business, even if it was twenty years ago, I still be doing this.”
“Hey, I’m not being judge and jury, it’s none of my concern – I’m just surprised, that’s all. Yet I am really pleased for both of you, honest.”

Tom put his arm around Margie’s waist and she turned her face toward his and he kissed it. Then he patted her backside and said “Come then, get on with the breakfast, I’m starving.”
Margie stopped in mid stride. She turned to face Tom. “What’s wrong with YOU doing the breakfast? Do you think it’s a woman’s job then eh? Don’t forget who’s the boss here.”
Tom stepped back a pace, his hands upturned towards Margie, “Hey, that was heavy on me, I was just making a joke. If you want me to help with the breakfast, I’m willing.”
“No thanks, I’ve seen the mess you call breakfast. – we’d better carry on, you get out of the galley – go and polish the anchor chain or something.”

“Margie!” Analise came in between them and caught the twinkle in Margie’s eye and the hint of a smile on her lips. “You are awful, you can kiss and make up later.”
“Tom, I almost forgot, Rafi’s checking out the boat, but he needs you right now to help with the anchors, can you go and find him?”
“Where is he?”
“Bridge I think, I’ll come with you.” With that he tapped Tom on the arm and nodded towards the door and they left.
Analise looked at Margie again, for a second the two women looked into each other’s eyes, then they both burst out laughing.

Breakfast over, Analise called a meeting in the boat’s wardroom in the stern.
“Today is very important, we must monitor the dredger and the on-shore systems closely, at the same time acting out the roles we claim to have. Does anyone have any questions?”
Rafi nodded and spoke up, “Annie, how much diving will we have to do?”
“I think we will do very little, only if there are people about or we think on-shore observers are watching.”
“Good, I don’t do so well in the water.”
“Well, we’d need you stay in the inflatable as our support vessel when we dive and help us get back in when we surface.”
“Thank you, that’s fine, I can do that ok.”
“Then that’s how we’ll do it. How much fuel have we got on board?”

“There are two tanks, each holds 400 litres, one is full and the other is about one quarter full. We have two 100 litre drums full in the aft store below us.”
“So, if it was full at Seapoint on our departure, it took about 300 litres to get here, yeah? How much do you reckon for St Helena?”
“I would guess 300, 350 litres maybe.”
“So we have enough fuel on board then?”
“I think so, and for the boat to be used around St Helena for about a week.”
“Good, so no need to go in to refuel. Tom have you got all the equipment you need?”
“Yes, everything, we can start monitoring as soon as this meeting’s over.”

“Fantastic, Kurt, is the diversion organised?”
“Yes Lisa my love, I spoke to a couple of friends last night who are up in Luderitz, they have some brilliant equipment to do the job.”
“Should I know what they are going to do or is it better that I don’t?”
“I can tell you. They have a full sized radio controlled helicopter. They will wait for my call and then launch it from the deck of their boat which will be roughly 150 kilometres north of us. It will be guided over the shoreline, coming across about 50 miles north of the SMC compound, out over the desert. Then it will be brought down just a few miles away from the compound. SMC will want to know what’s happening, they will despatch the gun bus helicopters and several four-wheel drive vehicles with armed response security officers. It will take them ½ to ¾ of an hour to locate it and to search about for the crew. That’s more than enough time for us to board the dredger, remove the diamonds and return to Sea Witch.”

“If it does the trick, that’s all I ask.”
Tom added his own comments to this discussion, “The jammer will make sure that no signals get sent from the dredger, nor between the base and the helicopters, adding to their problems.”
“Oh yes, I’d forgotten about that, thanks for reminding us Tom.” Analise patted him on the shoulder as she spoke.
In all this discussion, Margie hadn’t uttered a single word. Analise looked at her; it was time she had her chance to give the team the benefit of her thoughts.
“Margie, I know your job starts once we get our hands on the diamonds on that dredger, but you have had a significant role so far in the advance planning. Have you got any thoughts, concerns or questions you’d like to share?”

“I’ll be a nervous wreck before we board that dredger, every sound will make me jump.”
“We’ll just have to keep you busy then. Tom seems to have done a good job so far!”
“I’m quite happy to keep her busy all day if you like Annie!”
“That won’t be the most productive way Tom, thank you! “
“What? What did I say?” Tom laughed, trying to look innocent. “I meant that as she had been instrumental in getting the information I needed, she can help me check it out, set it and use it…. That’s all.”
“Yeah right.”
The meeting ended on an upbeat and they dispersed to their various tasks, Rafi back to the bridge, Tom and Margie to the communications room, whilst Kurt and Analise donned wet suits in case they needed to dive. Using one of the pressure pumps they inflated a dinghy and tied it off against the side of the Sea Witch, they wouldn’t use the motor dinghy as it was too big anyway.

FA(C)T Steve Goodings 2010