Lost At Sea by Arthur Limbada (non fiction books to read .txt) 📖

head bobbing up and down. Andrew walked around the table till he was standing right next to the man.
“What’s his name”, Gerald asked, still looking through the two way mirror.
Ted Collins looked down and shuffled his feet. “We didn’t manage to get it sir”. He wasn’t sure what he had done but he knew that in some way he had blown it.
Gerald could sense Andrew quickly getting frustrated by the minute even though he couldn’t hear what he was saying; his body language said it all. The next thing that Andrew did was put his hand under the victim’s armpit, and with some effort, he managed to raise the man onto his feet. Then Andrew basically just dragged him towards the door. Gerald quickly opened the door for Andrew and went to assist him in carrying the weight. The burden’s skin was cold and clammy.
“He must be in shock”, Andrew said before Gerald could ask what was wrong with him. “He is conscious and his eyes are open, but he doesn’t seem alert to anything that is happening around him. He seems almost as if he were in his own separate world”.
“So, what should we do with him?”
“Probably put him in a warm room somewhere and let him rest, he is most likely completely exhausted.”
Ted piped up. “We got a small room here with a bed at the station; you could put him in there if you wanted.”
“Great”, Andrew answered, “just lead the way.”
In two minutes they had the room set up, the man underneath covers and a heater on.
“I guess that is the most we can do now”, Andrew said, “We will just have to wait till he recovers”.
Gerald pulled out his cell-phone and rang up Gene Fay.
“Hello Gene, this is Gerald.”
“Hi, how is it going over there?”
“Haven’t found out anything yet, the guy is in shock. What’s the news over there?”
“We got a phone call from the other team, they saw some kind of black, triangular thing while they were high in the sky, but it submerged before they got down to it. We are sending a submarine out now to check up on that. Meanwhile our team is flying over to Bermuda just to check up on the Cruise ship.”
“Oh, well that’s good for them. Um, can you ask whether we should stay here or come back to the base? Or does the main lady have something else she wants us to do?”
“Sure, I will do that; I’ll call you back okay?”
“Fine, that would be great, thanks.”
He slid his phone shut and turned around. “So, I phoned Gene and asked her to ask the head lady what we should do. She said she would call back in about five minutes.”
“Good work”, Andrew answered “And did she mention what Terrance and they saw?”
“Yeah, she said that they saw some black and triangular object, but they didn’t see it properly though. She also said they’re sending a submarine to get a better look.”
Andrew nodded his head and then turned around and walked over to Ted Collin. From the distance that Gerald was standing, he couldn’t hear much of what was being said but he could tell that Andrew was reprimanding him for what he had done.
He felt the vibrations coming from the phone in his pocket, and he answered before the tone started.
“Hi Gerald, I talked to the main lady and she said that you should wait there for now until something crops up.”
“Okay, thanks for relaying the message; hopefully next time we talk we will have some better news.”
“All right, well good luck then.”
“Oh, I forgot, the survivor, we still haven’t got his name, has been repeating this name, Henry Downing. Could you possibly search up on it for us?”
“Sure, will do, Bye.”

Andrew walked back
“What she say”?
“That we should wait here for now till we are needed somewhere else,” Gerald answered.
“Fine, I just finished talking to Ted Collins over there. He says that the guy came to them about an hour before we got here. He sort of stumbled through the door. He was babbling basically, but he mentioned some things about coming from a ship that disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. I didn’t know but it seems the head lady has sent a message to all police stations that if they heard anything about the Triangle to ring her up. Anyways, he didn’t remember the name of the ship but everything points to the Caribbean Dream. Ted says that he said “We are just going to call some people to ask you more questions and you can just sit somewhere and wait” and he took the man by the arm and led him towards the interrogation room.
“Then he says the guy started trying to struggle with him and was saying something that he couldn’t understand. All he made out was Henry Downing, which Ted says he heard repeatedly. Then just before they reached the room it seemed as the man gave up with his struggling so they just put him in the interrogation room and left him there till we came.”
“Sounds like he was trying to tell them something,” Gerald replied.
“I agree, but what?” Andrew sighed softly.
“What it seems to me is that this guy forced himself to a police station to tell them something, and once he did he just lost all his strength.”
Andrew nodded, “you are probably right, but that doesn’t help us very much at all. The most we can do is look up into that name, Henry Downing. Could you phone Gene and ask her to do that”?
“I already did that.”
“Okay, good work.”
Gerald and Andrew both heard running footsteps in there direction. Turning towards the direction of the clatter, they both saw a young police man, his black shoes flying over the shiny white floor. Sliding to a halt just before colliding into the two in front of him, the young man stopped to catch his breath for a few seconds and then started.

“Sorry sirs, but Ted Collins is calling for you two. He says that the man is up from bed and is presently outside.”
Quick as a flash, Andrew was away from where he was standing in front of the young police man and was running in the direction of the front door. Gerald immediately started running as well, trying to keep up with Andrew. Andrew pushed open the door, and immediately stepped out into the wind. From behind Andrew, Gerald could see Ted Collins holding the man by the arm but the man was trying to walk away from him. Andrew walked over to him and just before he got to him, something happened, something that would replay in Gerald’s and Andrew’s minds for probably the rest of their lives.
Andrew reached out his hand to put it on the man’s shoulder. Ted Collins looked in the direction of Andrew, his eyes aware of the new person stepping into his focus, his lips opening to say something.
But Andrew’s hand never did reach the man’s shoulder. Ted’s mouth never finished completed the words it was trying to say. At first no one took in what happened at that moment. Then a few seconds later the meaning exploded into each of their minds. Andrew looked down on the floor at the motionless figure on the ground, blood gushing out of his head. He immediately looked around, searching all over for anyone who could have done this. A faint echo of the gunshot still echoed in his ear. All three of them stood frozen, looking, searching.

“Andrew, Gerald hollered, up there!”
Andrew looked in the direction of Gerald’s outstretched hand. Up in the hotel across the street from the police department, a curtain was open, and a sniper was in the window. Andrew started thinking.
“How many policemen are in the building?”
Ted Collins brain struggled, “Seven, sir.”
“Get all of them out, with guns. I need them to surround the building in front of us. You know what to do!”
He didn’t mean this as a question.
“Yes sir.”
“Use the hotel security as well! Gerald, you come with me.” He was already running towards the street, pulling the gun out of his holster.
Gerald stood there, still stunned.
Ted Collins pulled out his gun, handing it to Gerald. Gerald nodded and sprinted after Andrew.
Ted remembered something. “What should I do with the dead body, he shouted?” His question was lost in the noise of the street.
A police man ran out of the building. Thomas, you and Freddy take this body and put him in one of the cells. Tell everyone to come to me immediately, with firearms, and you go across the street to me once you are done.”
“Oh, and tell Vivian to bring me an extra gun.”

Andrew and Gerald ran into the hotel lobby, there I.D.I. cards flashing ahead of them. Andrew ran up to a guard who was walking in their direction and showed him his badge. “We got a murderer in here, I want you to shut down your elevators, understand? Work with the police, they should be here in about a minute. We two are going up.”
“Yes sir!”
“He shot from the top story, story four. It was the second from the left,” Gerald said as they ran towards the stairs.
The two of them ran all the way up the stairs until they got to the top floor. The door to the room that the killer was in was slightly ajar. Andrew raised the gun he was carrying and walked slowly towards the door. The small hand gun felt extremely heavy in his hands and he was perspiring heavily, panting slightly. He walked to the door, till he came right next to it and put his back to the wall. Quickly, even with the strain on his arm, he pointed the gun into the room and stuck his head into the doorway. He could see a figure sitting on a chair, a sniper set up in front of him, the dark brown curtains partly drawn. He was facing away from them.
“Sir, this is the I.D.I. We need you to put your hands up over your head.” Andrew spoke steadily as he entered the room, his gun pointed at the shooters head.
But the man didn’t want to listen. He just sat there. His body language didn’t give any indication that he heard the request and was going to obey it. As Gerald entered the room, he looked at the killer. His head was slouched, looking towards his lap, his shoulders slumped. The only strange thing about this image was that he was sitting straight against the back of the chair. He looked as if he was sleeping while sitting. Andrew repeated the request as he walked nearer to him and mentioned for Gerald to search the rest of the apartment. Gerald walked into the bathroom but noticed nothing amiss. He then steadily made his way into bedchambers. Everything was neat and tidy. He opened each of the cupboard doors, though what he