Уильям Мейкл - Operation - North Sea

Corporal Wiggins had a quandary. It had been bothering him all morning, from a rude, too early awakening in barracks in Lossiemouth, through the frantic spell of kitting up and the equally frantic helicopter then SUV trip to Aberdeen airport then the docks. Now they were here on the deck of the oil rig supply vessel, leaving Aberdeen harbour behind them, and it still bothered him.

It wasn’t anything he could speak to the others about… well, maybe the sarge, if he was listening. Wiggo had always taken it upon himself to be the squad clown, the one on whose shoulders fell the weight of lifting spirits and keeping things moving along at pace when things weren’t going well or a slow watch was dragging its heels.

The trouble was that the sarge, the usual brunt of Wiggo’s jokes, couldn’t be baited anymore; Hynd had a new woman in his life, it was still in its fledgling stages, and Wiggo refused to do anything that might disturb the newfound peace of mind of a man he’d looked up to since his own early days in the service. The sarge had been to hell and back, not just in the squad, but in his personal life too, suffering the death of his wife just a few years previously. If a new woman was going to help him recover some equilibrium, Wiggo wasn’t going to get in the way.

The captain, of course, was off limits as far as jokes aimed at him was concerned; Wiggo enjoyed being a corporal, hoped to make sergeant sometime in the future, and knew where his bread was buttered. Captain Banks liked a joke as much as the rest of them, but usually when it wasn’t aimed in his direction.

That just left Davies and Wilkins, both youngers, relatively speaking, both subordinates of his, and one black and one newly outed as gay. Teasing them felt like kicking puppies.

So it came down to the fact that Wiggo keeping his big mouth shut was probably for the best all ‘round.

But it was proving to be a constant struggle. Wiggo had been forced to choose either garrulousness or withdrawal at an early age; he’d grown up in a big family and while the men were at work, the women gathered for tea, biscuits, and chat; mothers, sisters, aunties, cousins, neighbors, and Auntie June Cobbley and all, with a posse of kids milling around underfoot. To avoid losing himself in the melee, Wiggo had chosen performance art, retelling schoolyard jokes, making up daft stories, getting loud, and generally ensuring that everybody always remembered he was there.

It had become more than a habit; it became a way of life, and had followed him… and got him into more fights than he cared to remember… through schoolyard, street gangs, Borstal, and finally, a new home here in the squad. He’d at long last found where he fit.

But the old habits, even although no longer required, refused to be permanently broken and eventually the dam burst and he spoke up, breaking a silence that had been ongoing as they all stood on the deck of the vessel for a smoke.

“So what is it this time, Cap?” he asked. “Must be some big stooshie to get us on the move so fast.”

“I would tell you,” Captain John Banks replied, “but why spoil the surprise? Finish up the fags, lads, there’s coffee below, and we’ll brief you there.”

“We?” Wiggo said. “You got somebody hiding in your pocket, Cap? There’s naebody here but us chickens.”

Wiggo was proved wrong when they went below deck and followed the captain into a small cramped room. Wiggo’s heart sank when he saw who was waiting there for them. The last time he’d seen Alexander Seton had been on the shores of Loch Ness, at the conclusion of the affair with the monster. It had been a clusterfuck of enormous proportions in the course of which Wiggo had lost his best friend in the service. Seeing the small ginger-haired man again brought it all flooding back in an instant and an anger rose up in him that he had to fight hard to keep down.

“Don’t tell me… more fucking monsters,” he said, and headed for the coffee machine where he could safely keep his back to Seton and win himself a few seconds to control his emotions while the cap introduced Seton to Wilkins and Davies. The two privates had only joined the squad in the aftermath of the debacle so they didn’t know the history and Wiggo saw that Davies in particular appeared puzzled by the corporal’s reaction.

“Long story, lad,” Wiggo said, surprised to find he could keep his voice low and calm. “I’ll tell you over a pint sometime.”

The captain called for quiet. Wiggo expected him to begin the briefing and was surprised when the floor was ceded to Seton.

At least, the wee man had the manners to look apologetic.

“I’m afraid it’s my fault you’re here,” he began in his soft Highland brogue. “If it turns out to be a wild goose chase, I’ll stand for a good bottle of Scotch for each of you. But if I’m right, it’s a job that this team, and only this team, are suited to investigate.”

“It’s fucking monsters again. I fucking knew it,” Wiggins said and was silenced by a single glance from the captain before Seton continued.

“Monster, singular,” he said. “Or at least, I hope so. But that’s getting ahead of myself. So let’s go back to the beginning, or as near to it as I can get.”

He settled into a sing-song, story-telling style of voice as he continued.

“I was in Aberdeen at the University Library a few weeks back, doing some research when I first got a clue there was something amiss. I overheard two young students talking about a lost fishing boat; I believe one of them had a relative aboard the boat and was worried for their safety. However, these things happen at sea, so I didn’t think much of it at the time, but later that night in my hotel bar I got chatting to a chap who knew the story.

“That’s when things started to get interesting. Apparently, there’s been a spate of boats going missing these past two years, and the local consensus is that it’s all been since a new rig went up. Of course fishermen being fishermen, there are as many theories as there are herring and, short of any tangible proof of any kind, the authorities, not keen on upsetting the money men in the oil business, were willing to sweep everything under the carpet as a series of unfortunate, yet coincidental, accidents. I, however, have good reason to think otherwise.”

He paused, patting at his pockets as if looking for something.

“Is that it? You’ve got us out here because of a story you heard in a bar? I heard some tales about Sweaty Betty, the bike of Balloch in the mess last night, but I didn’t go jetting off to Loch Lomond in search of her today. Although maybe I should have, eh? Might have been more fun than this shite. Is that really all you’ve got?”

“Wiggo?” the captain said, making the corporal turn and look at him. “Shut the fuck up for once.”

Seton hadn’t taken offence, and even smiled. He’d taken a pipe from his pocket and although he hadn’t lit it, was chewing away at the stem with what appeared to be pleasure.

“Of course that isn’t all,” he said softly. “Give me time, I’ll get ‘round to it at my own pace if you give me time. We’ve got a few hours until we reach our destination, so settle down and I’ll tell you a story.”

“So it’s fucking Jackanory now, is it?” Wiggo muttered, but kept it to little more than a whisper so as not to draw the captain’s attention again.

Seton continued after another chew at his pipe stem.

“You lads who met me before know of my peculiar enthusiasms, of course. This old brain has been filled with curios and nonsense for a great many years, all rattling around in there like an unfinished jigsaw puzzle. And all the talk of disappearing boats struck a chord in me, found a piece that fit onto another piece and dredged up some even older research I’d been working on and abandoned many years ago.