Indian Ocean Drama - 4. Orc Chapter 4

“Wow, now I didn’t expect that” I commented, just as Sebastian sat down beside me. “What is it my love? Anything interesting?” Sebastian asked, “Yes, you could say that” I replied, as I handed him the newspaper. “Well looks like the shit is really about to hit the fan in Canberra” Sebastian commented, when he finished reading the news article. “I think I had better stay onboard the yacht and stay out of sight till we are out to sea again” I remarked, and Sebastian nodded his head in agreement.

“Just as well I had the Captain have the name of the yacht temporarily renamed, and the AIS code adjusted, before we arrived in Cape Town” Sebastian commented, “You have, I hadn’t noticed” I said shocked at this news, and Sebastian just smiled in response.

Two days later, we were preparing to leave South Africa, and we were waiting on the twins who had to do some last - minute shopping. When they returned, they had with them a copy of today’s newspaper, which they gave to Sebastian to look at, when they arrived in the executive lounge.

We were leaving the harbour of Cape Town, when we suddenly began to slow down, and the phone beside Sebastian buzzed. “Sir, we have been ordered to stop, as there is an official who wishes to speak to you, before you leave” the Captain said, and with Sebastian leaning towards me, I was able to hear the conversation, “Captain, Lewis here, who is the official?” I asked.

“The Australian High Commissioner in South Africa, to see you sir” the Captain replied. “Captain, tell them I have no interest in speaking to his Excellency, and that he should return to port, as we are not stopping” I replied, “You heard the man, let’s leave Cape Town at once Captain” Sebastian added, “Yes sir” the Captain replied and the call ended.

“This may cause some issues, with our plans to go to FI, we may have to change our plans again, as the High Commissioner will know where we are heading” Sebastian said to me, and I sighed, “You might be right, but where do we go?” I replied.

We need to find a remote island, that we can rent or buy, where we can live peacefully, without any disruptions” Sebastian suggested, as he retrieved his laptop computer and started it up. A few minutes later as Sebastian and I were looking at Google Maps, one of the bridge officers entered the lounge.

“I have a fax for Mr Shaw sir” the officer said as he approached and handed me the fax. “Sir Lewis, please stop the yacht and return to Cape Town, your resignation was not accepted, and you are requested to return to Christmas Island, furthermore, your titles were not revoked as suggested in the media. Signed the High Commissioner of Australia, South Africa”. “Well that is something different, and unexpected” I said as I handed the fax to Sebastian, and I stood up and followed the officer back to the bridge.

“What are you going to do? Are you planning on going back, after everything that has happened?” Sebastian asked me, when we reached the bridge. “Not at the moment, I smell a rat, and it is not coming from this yacht or Australia” I replied, as I picked up the satellite phone and dialled a number that I knew by heart.

“Lewis Shaw to speak to the Governor General please” I said, when the call was answered, “Certainly Mr Shaw, please hold” came a response, and I put my hand over the mouth piece, “the staff member referred me as Mr Shaw, not Sir Lewis! I may be correct with my suspicions.

“Mr Shaw, what can I do for you?” the Governor General said, when she came onto the phone, “Ma’am, I have a matter of great importance to tell you. I am currently in Cape Town, and I have received a message from the High Commissioner of South Africa, that my resignation was not accepted, and that I am to return to Christmas Island, plus that my honours have not been revoked, is this all correct?” I stated.

“It certainly is not correct, your resignation was accepted, and your Baron and Knighthood honours were indeed revoked, although that is now under review, after what Mr Philip Folkman has revealed recently” the Governor General replied.

“Well in that case ma’am, I suggest that you have the Federal Police look into why someone is pretending to be the High Commissioner of South Africa, and sending me a fax, with the Australian Government logo on it, insisting that I return to Christmas Island, possibly to kidnap me, and possibly take me to Singapore” I said, “Thank you for your information Mr Shaw, I will certainly get it looked at. Good day to you” the GG said,and she ended the call abruptly.

“I do not like the sounds of that” Sebastian said to me, before turning to the Captain, “Change course to North West please Captain, we are heading to the Med, and I ask that no transmissions be made from this yacht, until I give permission” Sebastian said, before he grabbed my hand and led me off the bridge, and we headed back to the executive lounge.

“I have an idea that I want to run past you” Sebastian said when we arrived in the lounge, where the twins were relaxing, and they looked up after Sebastian said that. “Bear with me on this, it may be a bit of a wild idea, but it could work. I have a friend who contacted me last year, asking if I was interested in buying a small island and building a villa on it for tourists, and for our holidays.

We have spent the past 8 months we have been preparing a flat area on the island, so as we can place a prebuilt villa in sections onto the island directly from a ship, we have a reasonably flat area, to put the building on, located near the south end of the island, which is 331 acres in area. We also have a team slowly restoring the old watch tower, back to what it originally looked like when it was built.

If we are careful, we could use our latest project as the feature building on the island, as it has all the facilities needed installed already, and we can add, with wind turbines and solar panels, and we just need to run a pipe down to the water, to get access to the sea, to get water for the desalination plant” Sebastian stated.

“Ok brother, where is this place where you plan to have this hair-brain idea” the twins asked, “Not hair brain, totally crazy” I added, and the twins laughed at this, “Ha bloody ha, guys. Now you have all seen the plans, we can do this, just send one level of tower up at a time, and slot it all together, that is how it has been designed, to do it that way, not matter if it is in the water or on land” Sebastian stated, “The location?” I asked.

“Isola di Serpentara” Sebastian said, and I saw the shocked look on the twins faces, “Err, are you sure about that brother, that is pretty hard to get onto, we passed it when we were on the cruise, during your manly moon, I mean honey moon” Louis asked.

“Will you please tell me where the hell this Serpent place is?” I asked in a frustrated tone, “Oh sorry sweetness, it is a very small island in the Mediterranean Sea, and its highest point is 54 metres above the sea, it is 4 kms East of Sardinia, a territory of Italy, it has a very old watch tower on it that dates back to the Spanish Wars” Sebastian replied.

“Oh” was all I could say, as Sebastian brought up a Google Maps look of the island, “Does it include those three rocky outcrops just to the north?” Joachim asked, “Yes it does, and we have already built and installed a 500-metre long, steel framed jetty between the small northern and the larger southern rocks, to create a boat landing, but the depth there is only 3.2 metres, so bigger ships will not be able to berth there.

This yacht maybe able to get there at high tide, but it may get stuck there till the next high tide. From the jetty, we have made a 350-metre long boardwalk, also steel framed, to the island, and it is an 890-metre hike to the building site. We already have approval from the local authorities to build a villa, with no height restrictions, so we are hoping that they won’t complain about a tower that will be over 18 metres high.

The one problem that we do have, is that the main level is 3 decks up from the ground, but there is an airlock, located on Level 1 East, with a bathroom and two elevators in the small foyer area, which leads into the central recreation lounge, and I just thought of another thing, we may have to install a warning light on top, to stop aircraft from crashing into us” Sebastian explained.

“Oh great, that is all we need” I exclaimed, as I sat down hard in the lounge, having stood up and paced the room for a bit earlier, “It will all be good sweetness, so please don’t worry” Sebastian said to me. “How long till we get there, bro?” Louis asked Sebastian, “The Captain said ten days, if it is smooth sailing” Sebastian replied, before pulling out his phone and he spent the next few hours on the phone cancelling plans for the shipping containers, and also to arrange for the tower to be shipped to Italy via the Suez Canal, which will only take 14 days.

For the next ten days, I tried to keep myself busy, swimming in the pool each day, and spending some time in the gymnasium, and I even started to learn Italian, which was a lot easier than I thought, especially with the twins helping, and they often began talking in Italian during dinner, to get me to get use to understanding the language, and to reply to what they are saying.

The crew were pleased when they learnt that we were heading for the Med, and Mrs Cooper was looking forward to getting a nice suntan again, as all the cold weather clothing was packed and stored away for another time. Just 1 ½ days after passing the Gibraltar Strait, I made the call that I needed to make.

“Hello sis, it is me” I said when the call was answered, “Oh Lewis, we have been so worried about you, are you ok? and where the hell are you” my sister said to me, “I am fine sis, and you can tell everyone else we are all fine. We are still on the yacht, but I can’t tell you were I am or where we are heading, as there has been an attempt to kidnap me, so we are staying at sea, just to be safe” I said.

“Oh, and who is trying to kidnap you?” Margaret asked me, “I think it may have been the same gang that assaulted my assistant, they may be trying to get me back to Singapore, to face trial for illegally smuggling a wanted man out of the country, which seems strange considering they just dumped him out on the side of the road like garbage” I replied.

“That is terrible, I will ring Kylie, she may have an idea on what is happening. Do you have the same Sat phone number for the yacht?” Margaret asked.

“Yes sister, you can call me on that number, but don’t give it to anyone, give me a call in say two days from now at this time, which is a suitable time for me too, remember the name of the base that our brother helped to build, use that for the code word, then we will know it is you” I said to Margaret, “What base… oh yes, now I remember, very sneaky, ok brother you take care, and give your husband a kiss and cuddle from me, bye for now” Margaret said before ending the call.

“Remind me to privately tell the Captain the code word, before we go to bed” I said to Sebastian, “I have no idea what you are talking about” Sebastian said to me, and I just chuckled, as I headed back to the bridge with the Satellite phone, and I refused to tell Sebastian the code word when he asked me, over the next two hours.

As we were preparing for bed, there was a knock on our cabin door, and I went downstairs to answer it. “Sorry to disturb you sir, but a Mrs Kylie Sanders is on the sat phone and she gave the correct password” the first officer said to me, before handing over the sat phone and closing the door.

“Hello Kylie, what are you doing calling me” I said into the phone, “Don’t you get narky with me boyo, I have been worried sick about you, now tell me this instant where you are” Kylie said to me, “I’m sorry, but I won’t, I am no longer in Australia, that is all you need to know” I replied, “If you are worried about someone listening in, you don’t have to worry, I am on a secure phone line from Perth Headquarters, since you left, I have been transferred back to the main land” Kylie replied.

“I am on a yacht in the middle of a sea, that is all I am going to tell you, now I have lots of things to do today, so I am going to hang up now, I will set up a new email address tomorrow, and send you an email, that is all for now, bye Kylie” I said before ending the call.

I changed into some suitable clothes, before taking the Sat phone back to the bridge, and I sat there talking with the first officer for a while, before returning to the suite. “What took you so long?” Sebastian said in a half sleep, “Just talking to the First, we will be arriving in Marina di Villasimius at 9 am tomorrow, I think I got the pronunciation correct” I said, “Bravo, Si” Sebastian replied.

“How far is it from this marina to the island?” I asked Sebastian, “About 14 kilometres by boat from the marina, now go to sleep” Sebastian mumbled, and I was soon asleep beside my husband.

The next morning, after we had cleared customs, we went for a look around the small village, which is very popular with holiday campers, as well as plenty of holiday houses in the village. I had given all the crew permission to have shore leave, since they had not had much time to relax much, when we were on Christmas Island.

After a wonderful day of exploring and enjoying the sights of Sardinia, we set said in the very late afternoon, passing the South eastern tip of the Island, just as the sun was touching the horizon, and we moored at the jetty of the island just before it started to get too dark. With a busy day planned for tomorrow, we all ate dinner and headed to bed without a fuss, as we were all eager to see what this island is like.

When I woke up in the morning, I headed forward to the crew area, and up the stairs, 4 levels till I reached the bridge, and not bothering to knock, I walked straight in, where the Captain was sipping a cup of tea. “Good morning Captain, what does this Island that my hubby bought, look like” I said to him as I approached the front of the bridge deck, and the Captain just smiled.

“Yes, I know, I am impatient, Sebastian tells me that often” I added, as I walked out onto the side wing for a clearer view, and the Captain joined me. “Well it is very rocky for one thing, and reasonably flat in most places, are we touching the bottom Captain?” I asked.

“Surprisingly no we are not, so it must be deeper than 3.2 metres” the Captain responded, “Righto, I am off to explore” I said as I left the bridge, and headed down all the stairs, till I reached the lower deck, and kept moving to the aft of the yacht, to the aft platform, which I hoped was at the right height to step onto the jetty.

Once on the jetty, I headed along the boardwalk, until I reached the island itself, and began the hike up the hill, stopping at the old tower, which I was amazed was still standing. I continued along the track, and I soon arrived at a very large cleared area, that was about 250 metres wide, and it looked very flat, as it took up nearly the whole width of the island.

Looking to the east of the island, there is a small bay, which looked deep, and I wondered if it would be best to have the tower located there, where it will be mostly hidden by the island, and be in a sheltered area. I walked to near the south end of the island, before making my way back towards the jetty, and when I reached the tower, I went inside to have a look, and it was incredibly well restored, with a carved stone steps leading up to the entrance, which has a heavy wooden door, which was open.

Stepping inside, the internal walls had all been restored, and the windows have been framed with weathered looking frames, and wooden shutters.The tower is round with three levels, and a wooden spiral staircase circles along the inside wall of the tower, with a space for plenty of head clearance, as I reached the next level up. All three levels were empty, but all the walls and windows had been restored, and a wooden roof had been built on the top, with wooden shingles, to keep the weather out.

The view from the top floor was incredible, I could see the main island of Sardinia very clearly, as the sun began to warm up, as I headed back downstairs, where I nearly banged into a man as he stepped through the main door. “Scusami, me displiace”, Excuse me, I am sorry, I said in Italian.

“Cosa stai facendo qui? e terra private?” the man said in response, of which I only got part of what he said, which was something to do with private land. “Scusa non caisco” I replied, saying that I didn’t understand, “Eh, eh, eh! You go now, not be here” the man said in broken English, and with that I scooted around him and left the tower and walked quickly towards the jetty.

When I arrived, I saw a small boat moored on the other side of the jetty, and Sebastian was talking to another man. “Ah, there you are, I was wondering where you got too, until the Captain informed me that you had scooted off to explore the island” Sebastian said when he saw me, then he switched back to Italian to speak to the man, who smiled broadly, and shook Sebastian’s hand, before he walked past me and headed for the tower.

“Did you bump into another man up there?” Sebastian asked me, “Si, I mean yes, he told me off, or something like that, I couldn’t quite understand it, as he spoke so fast” I replied, and Sebastian laughed, “Come and have some breakfast, then we will go and meet the stone masons properly” Sebastian said to me.

The twins were already eating by the time we arrived in the dining room, and we sat down and ate with them, and it looked like the twins were just as eager to explore the island too. “When is Xander going to be joining us?” I asked as we were finishing breakfast, “Oh hell, I totally forgot about our cousin, just as well I hadn’t made the travel arrangements, or he would be waiting for us back in South Africa” Sebastian said, as he jumped up and headed off to make a call.