Book 4 Teaser

The sight of the launching area for Wallops Island’s NASA facility shocked him back into reality. He would have to stay in the middle of the channel to avoid going aground.

“Isn’t that it?” Boo asked.

“That’s the launch area,” said Jake. “The area with all of the satellite dishes and broadcasting towers is dead ahead. We’ll need to stay in the channel. I’m not sure how deep it gets here. There is a boat ramp about halfway down the causeway to the island. That should be deep enough to pull in and tie up if the tide is right. After that we’ll have to walk about half a mile.”

“That actually sounds refreshing,” said Jimmy. “I’ve been cooped up in this boat long enough.”

Jake reached into the glove compartment of the Grady-White and pulled out a spray can of insect repellent.

“Here,” he said. “You’d better take a bath in that.  There are no rats in Chincoteague. The mosquitoes are so big that they fly away with them. Even with this on, we’re gonna get torn up on the walk there.”

Jimmy and Boo coated themselves head to toe with repellent, then tossed the can back to Jake, who did the same.

“We’re about five to ten minutes away. I hope I’m going the right way. I’ve never come up on Chincoteague from this angle. We have to be careful. This water gets awful shallow in low tide. We could get stuck here,” Jake said.

“Couldn’t we just walk it?” asked Boo.

“That mud is like quicksand. It’ll grab you and not let go. Best not to try it. Let’s just get this right the first time,” Jake said.

“That reminds me,” Jimmy began. “How the hell do you plan on getting access to a broadcasting tower?”

“Colonel Cannaveral gave me this,” Jake said, producing a small envelope. “Let’s hope it works.”

As Jake neared the boat ramp, he looked around at the tide. It appeared to be at ebb, which meant it was either coming in—which would facilitate a smooth departure, but force them to travel at night—or was going out, which essentially would keep them grounded for the night. Neither option appealed to Jake, but that was lower on the priority list than getting the Colonel’s message out.

Jake lashed the line to the dock with a double half hitch and tossed the anchor out to keep the boat from banging against the wharf. Thankfully nobody was near the boat ramp.

“Good timing. Earlier or later in the day and this ramp is packed with people. We got it just right,” said Jake. “The fewer questions the better at this point.  Grab your backpacks.”

Jimmy and Boo grabbed their sacks and hopped onto the wharf. The entire area reeked of marsh mud.

“God, this place stinks,” said Chung.

“What you’re smelling, Jimmy, is life. This marsh is teeming with it. The stinkier the marsh, the more life exists there. That’s a good healthy smell,” said Jake.

“Right now I would prefer something a lot less stinky and less healthy to this shit,” said Jimmy.

“Which way are we going?” Boo asked.

“That way,” Jake said. “You’ll see in a moment.”

Once they got onto the causeway out of the way of marsh weeds, the NASA facility was clear. Giant satellite dishes dotted the landscape, and there was a rocket museum off to the left with old rockets displayed on the grounds.

“Dead ahead. And if you don’t want to become mosquito dinner, I’d suggest we do it on the hop,” Jake said.

The three men began jogging up the causeway towards Wallops Island.

“We made it,” said Boo. “We had to take the long way around, but we made it.”

“We haven’t made it yet,” said Jake. “We’re nine-tenths there. That’s usually when the wheels fall off.”