Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 02 - Peeking Duck by Daniel Ganninger Read Free Book Online Page A

many smaller merchant marine companies that couldn’t afford to dedicate the resources to such a task.  Their offices were located in the Port of Los Angeles, near the freight terminals.
    The staff at SeaBoard was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Trusian to the port to offload its cargo and exchange crews.  Tim Elway was in charge this particular morning, coordinating the arrival of several vessels with their handoff to the harbor pilot who would guide them into port when the ship’s time was due.  Elway had been in contact with the Regentex offices.  They had been informed of the Trusian’s problem.
    Elway had tried all morning to raise the crew of the Trusian , but to no avail.  He sent satellite email messages and radio calls, but there had been no response in the last twelve hours.  An alert had been sent to the U.S. Coast Guard giving the ship’s last position.  Elway had also sent a request to all incoming vessels, some as far as five hundred miles off the California coast, to be on the lookout for the Trusian .
    The ship had an expected port call of 4:45 P.M., and that time was drawing near.  The Trusian would have had to be within 20 miles to arrive on time.  It wasn’t unusual for a vessel to be extremely late due to weather or mechanical problems, but the fact that no vessel had seen the Trusian was very disconcerting to Elway.  He decided to give the ship until 5:45 P.M. to communicate; otherwise he would have to declare an emergency.  This meant the Coast Guard, Navy, and Federal Authorities would be involved, and a search for the vessel would commence.  It would become a national security issue, and for Elway an extreme amount of paperwork.
    Elway and the officials at Regentex continued to call for updates on the ship.  Regentex had access to the same GPS tracking as SeaBoard, and they were seeing the same thing on the tracking software as SeaBoard—nothing.   This particular vessel had containers outfitted with their own GPS tracking devices, independent of the ship’s transponder.  None of these were operating either.  This little fact was the most troubling of all to Elway.
    The minutes ticked by slowly , and Elway had little hope in making a connection with the Trusian .  As his personal cut-off time approached, Elway prepared all of his available staff to contact the proper authorities.  They had no time to waste.
    As 5 :45 P.M. arrived, Elway decided it was fruitless to wait any longer.  He immediately got on the phone and contacted the Coast Guard with information about the ship’s last known coordinates, the location of which hadn’t changed since he contacted the Coast Guard hours before.  The Coast Guard dispatched a jet to survey the area since it was so far off the coast and in international waters.  A Coast Guard cutter was already steaming its way to the last known communication coordinate with the Trusian , and a U.S. Navy vessel steaming from Honolulu to San Diego was ordered to divert its course to search for the missing ship.
    Elway ordered the staff of SeaBoard to maintain strict confidentiality regarding this emergency outside the walls of the dispatch center.  Despite his effort, he knew tonight the disappearance of the Trusian would be on the late evening news, every cable news outlet, website, and wire service.  He cringed at the idea of the bad press, long hours, and mountain of paperwork he would have to do, but ultimately, he had no choice.
    After the necessary calls and protocols were under way, Elway got on the phone to the headquarters of Regentex Maritime and updated them on the situation.  Regentex had already begun damage control and the formulation of public relations statements.  This was the most damaging situation the company had encountered in their twenty year history.  In today’s charged climate of hyper security, Regentex’s practices would be questioned at every turn.  They would be subjected to public scrutiny, and items the