'Operation Clean-up'

 

Chapter 26

‘OPERATION CLEAN-UP’

 

Hours before putting the operation in motion the participants got everything essential to make it a success. There was no room for mistakes. Camette had the precious chest with her. This had been Doom’s decision who had no doubts as to the integrity of the young woman. Every man had to wear a diving suit, and carry a harpoon. Each was to have one dive light, two bottles of air, one regulator, one dive reel to fix a line from the start as a guide to find the way out with no difficulty. And two vans.

They dined together before the agreed time. It didn’t occur to anyone to refuse the dinner. Each one of them was thinking about all the rest, and whatever the outcome they would have to keep calm. Camette who was horrified by hunger ate a lot, Liana reacted in a similar way. Neither of the two women spoke during dinner, they just ate. Nothing else. All those present knew that something intense in their lives was about to take place, and they couldn’t be negligent.

Liana, is spite of being an islander, was the least informed about the situation on the island. Irving had told her of the incidents in the ‘Pink Paradise’ and the finding of the drowned fish-man who was probably the one responsible for the attack on him, the night Filo had taken him to his house to be cured. Liana listened to him and then asked, “Was my father in the ‘Pink Paradise’?”

“Yes, he was with the doctor and me. Something wrong?”

“Do you think that it is normal a man of his age to go to such places?”

“What are you afraid of? That one day he’ll bring a woman to this house and you’ll be left without a home?”

“It’s not that, but it might cause him to have a heart attack.”

“Going to the ‘Pink Paradise’ doesn’t cause heart attacks to anyone. Don’t worry, when all this is over you’ll be back to your nice quiet life.”

 

“Now everyone pay attention to my words,” announced the doctor. The small group was seated in Camette’s room on having finished dinner. “Camette and Irving came here for something specific: Camette to find an antique either to display or to sell; Irving to write an article on strange or weird happenings. I am here because a certain friend of Irving’s asked me to come. Irving went to dive off the west coast of the island, something very normal in these seas. He found a shipwreck and straight away he sent splinters of wood to his friend who is a marine scientist. Irving received the hoped for answer, the wood was burnt. Later there was the ritual of the fish and the waters became turbulent.  Well, I have a surprise for you, they were boiling. This together with the piles of dead fish on the shore led me to believe in something obvious. Someone was using prohibited chemical products. To what end? One we know is to reproduce jewellery found in the shipwrecks that are to be found in this area. On the day I went on a boat trip, everyone fell asleep except the boatman, and me. Why? Well, in an inlet along the coast there was a launch that didn’t want spectators to see what they were up to. The boatman had put a narcotic in the drinks to get the people to sleep and slowed down the engine. He probably wanted to deliver some illegal materials for their criminal experiments. He wouldn’t have been there for long, only enough time to leave the stuff, and let his friends to continue their work in peace. His plan was spoilt.”

“Why are we in danger?” asked Irving.

“They have already killed the fish-man, probably for wanting a bigger share of the spoils. In the laboratories below, Osman was trying to make the famous fire fish poisonous, to be released in the open sea to kill the other fish, and thus threaten to use them later for biological blackmail to get cash for their evil research. They have been doing the same with contaminated genetically-altered seaweed, which if launched into the sea would overrun all the shellfish hatcheries, not just here, but in the whole region. Most serious, however, is that they now suspect us of knowing more than they think is safe for them. Their options are now very limited. We are sitting on a floating bomb! Literally!”

“And the hieroglyphics?” Filo asked.

“The hieroglyphics speak of a date and when the sacred fire fish would appear, this was added to the large stele when the floor was made, after the first drama. The ancients believed that it would return one day.”

“It’ll only come back when it has to do so,” Filo said.

“Osman is convinced that it is going to return, and is working towards this end,” said the doctor. “The date in the hieroglyphics corresponds to that of a few weeks ago and accordingly the fish will return.”

“Doctor, how do you know it will return?” screamed Liana.

“It has to protect the fish.”

“That sounds somewhat illogical coming from a man like you,” Irving said.

“Illogical or not. Fish or no fish, we have to do the following. And Doom put forward the details of the operation.

1.        At 11.30 Liana must begin the evacuation of the hotel. Those who don’t go will have only themselves to blame if a calamity occurs in the swimming pool..

2.        Each man has to be at his corresponding post at midnight.

3.        At 00.15 Filo will open the central stone entrance; the other two will do the same, Irving from the cave, and the doctor from the passage that comes from the swimming pool.

4.        At 01.00 everyone must be in position to proceed with the operation.

5.        The operation consists of dismantling and destroying all that is there, as quickly as possible, and then meet up with Curro and the two women.

6.        Camette will be on guard above the site of the crash, with those from the hotel, to warn of the possible presence of Osman and the married couple.

 

At the reception desk there was a light on and a young man sitting silently. There were still five minutes to go before midnight. Doom, dressed in a diving suit and, unrecognisable, came down the staircase. There were hardly any guests around, and they were mostly in the bars or on the terrace. This fact didn’t present any problem for the doctor, if anyone approached him and asked him about his clothing he would say, ‘I’m going to a fancy dress dance.’

The garden was very dark. Since the drowning of Matina’s husband the swimming pool and the garden were not so busy as before. Due to the weight he had on him, the doctor entered the pool from the shallow end and swam calmly to the metal door, which he opened and passed through. He fixed his dive line and switched on his dive light.

The doctor found himself in a true underwater maze, and as he advanced along the tunnel he realised he was going towards the centre of the island. It occurred to him that it would be impossible to hide himself from anyone coming from the opposite direction. With no setbacks, at 00.30 he was at the end of the journey. The doctor made sure that the guide line was still working. He didn’t fancy the idea of being trapped there below in the black waters. He arrived at the decompression chamber, closed the door securely behind him, banged the controls with a hammer and waited until the chamber was empty. Then he began to open the second door.

 

Irving left the van on the cliff top. He had to pass through the black mouth of the entrance to return to the cave for the last time. What he hadn’t noticed before was that all that part of the island formed a subterranean system of caves one after another. The dive light showed him a beauty that he had never thought could exist under the water. The most surprising discovery was a statue of a huge fish half-submerged. This meant that in olden times the ancient islanders had put it there to watch over the fish. But something wasn’t right and Irving felt uneasy. The reason was, seeing fish fleeing to the surface as if they were trying to escape.

He arrived at the gallery he was looking for, making sure that his guide line was in order. At the door of the decompression chamber he looked at his watch, and waited for the arranged hour to go in.

 

Filo had followed the instructions to the letter. For him, the situation was more violent but unavoidable. However, he wasn’t worried about having Osman for a brother, their relationship had ended many years before. He knew he would have to act prudently so as not to awaken Osman’s more evil side. Filo didn’t care too much about what could happen to himself, so long as the bad things on the island were destroyed.

The handle slid to one side leaving the entrance in the floor of the temple open and he found himself swimming in a tunnel full of water, until he arrived at the door to the big basin on the other side. He got inside, rose to the surface and found himself surrounded by the horrifying secret.

 

The interior of the island was nothing more than a laboratory to carry out grotesque experiments on fish and coastal plants. On view were instruments whose uses went far beyond the wildest imagination. Many enormous aquariums, full of fish and plants surrounded it. To think this had once been a beautiful underwater cave. The mark of the rise in the water level could be seen when the floodgate was open. At that moment the doctor and Irving entered. They were surprised to find themselves in a shut and dry cave. The three knew what they had to do. The doctor sent signals to the other two, the doctor began to destroy everything. The fish on being freed from the large aquariums swam around in the basin which was filling with water from the broken aquariums.

The job once finished, Filo and Irving passed to the decompression chamber. The doctor left them enough time so that they could reach the open sea, before opening the decompression chamber that they had used to let the sea enter up to its natural level. The doctor had little time to spend with the floodgates to return to the swimming pool. He had to leave them half-open, so the water moved rapidly in the tunnels. He had to fight against the current to be able to get back to the hotel swimming pool.

 

Irving and Filo got into the van and met up with the women and Curro on the cliff top above the crash site.

Doom was lucky enough to get back to his room without being seen. After changing he called Irving’s friend from the call cabin of the bar, “I think we have it under control. We have completely destroyed the laboratory.”

“And now for the other matter. By the way the chemicals used will have weakened the fish.”

“Very well. Do you know anything about the plane or the pilots?”

“The pilots were found in what looked like a car accident.”

“What do they say  about the flight?”

“They don’t say anything. They’re dead.”

“Is there much time left before we must leave the island?”

“Till the next sunset.”

 

Everyone was at the site facing where the plane had fallen. The women had taken food and sleeping bags. They had watched the sea during the whole time the men had been smashing the laboratory.

“I saw an antique that you would like to exhibit in your shop,” Irving said to Camette.

“What?”

“A statue of a fish down there in the cave,” the young man answered.

“Look, Amanta and Jorge on the launch,” Filo pointed.

Everyone stayed silent in the darkness to watch the passing of the launch. From the sky came the sound of thunder and lightning which broke the nocturnal silence.

“I’m frightened, the laboratory was theirs. When they see what has happened they aren’t going to be happy,” said Camette.

“That’s why we are here,” said the doctor.

“You told us that we were on a floating bomb, is it true or is it just a saying?” Camette asked.

“It’s true. When Osman set up the laboratory he put in as a security measure, a lock with a timer. I’m afraid that during the operation we set it in motion,” the doctor answered thoughtfully.

“I can’t hold back my anger when I think of all the damage my brother has been causing all these years. I thought it was only about smuggling and the faking of pieces taken from shipwrecks of centuries ago,” murmured Filo.

“That’s another matter,” affirmed the doctor.

“Look! Look! The sea’s getting all rough!” shouted Curro.

The waves appeared to come from a point far away from the island and lost in the darkness. The thunder and lightning raised the telluric tension. The launch danced on the sea. Through his binoculars Irving made out three figures that were on deck.

Then a streak of lightning hit something and suddenly everyone saw a green ray sent out from Osman’s glasses that had fallen onto the deck. The lightning hovered over Osman for a moment, and then his silhouette appeared to evaporate in front of the stupefied gaze of the couple and the observers on the cliff top. All that remained of him were his green glasses, now broken on the deck.

“How do you feel, Filo?” asked the doctor.

“I’m fine. Osman has got his just reward.”

“The matter isn’t over yet, right, Doctor?” Irving asked.

“Exactly, and now everyone to sleep.”

 

Dawn brought a splendid day. Camette and Liana prepared breakfast and the men stared at the sea looking for signs of the launch that had disappeared.

“We can’t spend all the time watching the sea. Let’s go to the museum!” said Doom.

The three men entered the museum in a rush, and each one went to a different room.

 “They haven’t arrived yet, so we can take advantage of the time to find a hiding-place,” the doctor said, casting a glance at the big room.

“Who’s going to come here?” asked Irving.

“Amanta and Jorge,” Filo answered.

“Why?” Irving asked..

“To pick up the most valuable pieces before leaving the island for ever,” the doctor said.

“Doctor, promise me an explication when this is all over?” Filo asked.

“Yes, of course.”

Two figures dressed in diving suits came out from a small door in the last room in the museum. They went to the show cases and removed several pieces, among them a stone engraved with a fish against flames of fire.

Then Doom shouted, “The game’s up, put everything you’ve stolen on top of the table.”

Neither of them blinked, in fact they didn’t seem to have heard. Amanta had her back to the doctor and then suddenly she turned round. She was armed. “Is this what you want, troublemaker?” and aimed to shoot and pulled the trigger. But the doctor was faster than her and he grabbed her arm. The woman screamed at Jorge to help her. He also was armed and readied himself to kill Irving. Filo coldly fired the harpoon at Jorge and got him in the shoulder.

 

The unhappy couple had to suffer a walk from the museum to where the plane had fallen.

“How did you do it? With mirrors reflected against the windows of the nose of the plane?” asked Doom.

“We shan’t tell you,” Amanta answered looking at them in hate.

“Where’s the launch?” Doom asked.

“It’s here doctor,” Irving said, getting on board. “I’m going to take a look.” Irving found Osman’s glasses and kept them as a souvenir. Filo arrived and the two examined the launch, they returned with a sack full of treasures.

“Everyone on board,” the doctor said pushing the couple.

“Doctor, look here.” It was Irving pointing to something covered by a tarpaulin. It was uncovered by the two men. It was a strange apparatus built on a base of panels, lenses, and mirrors. It looked like a parabolic antenna.

“Switch it on let’s see what happens,” the doctor said. Irving switched it on. Nothing could be heard. Filo looked at the couple. Both of them were trembling.

“Doctor, look at the couple,” said Filo.

Amanta and Jorge were terrified.

“What’s going on here?” Doom asked.

“There will be another fire, the plaques create a combustion that later will burn anything.”

“For example the timbers on the ship,” commented Irving.

“It’s not perfected yet,” Jorge said.

“What were you doing when the plane flew above? An explanation is not necessary. And we all know about the experiments with the fish and the plants, and with what end in mind. To blackmail the authorities by threatening to poison the seas if they don’t give you money. Isn’t that it?” Doom declared.

The couple seeing that they had no secrets any more, asked what was going to be done with them. The three men exchanged looks and it was Filo who spoke. “We’re leaving, and you will be left tied up here on deck. Nothing else.”

Amanta and Jorge looked on helplessly while their captors started the engine, got off the launch, and walked away without looking back. The launch headed towards the open sea.

 

Camete, Liana and Curro watched the launch’s departure. A little later they were reunited with the men. Camette sat on the ground with the rescued artefacts and concentrated her professional eye on them. She took some time to remove the muck from a small piece with the representation of the fish, and shouted, “A solid gold fish!”

Everyone gathered round to touch it and admire it. They settled down to help her and so the hours passed.

 

The launch had disappeared by the time the deathly light of the sunset caressed the island. Everything began to tremble; the earth, the trees, the plants, the sea, with the noise of animals escaping. Even the last rays of the sun appeared to grow and grow until they spread out all over the horizon.

“It’s enormous!” exclaimed Curro. The adults looked to where the boy was pointing. Against the flames of fire could be seen an enormous and lovely fish. The fire travelled towards the island, the waves grew until they almost covered the cliffs.

While they watched the flames spreading out of and into the caves they all felt a tremendous fear. The heat was infernal, unbearable. Faces were covered for protection.

“Let’s get out of here!” Filo shouted.

They boarded the vehicles hurriedly and escaped like the animals.

 

“It’s as I told you. The fish only appears at difficult moments for fish existence.” Filo said. “It’s the symbol of faith that mother nature always has the last word.”