Black wind

a crate of frozen sherbet.
    Once all was secured, Captain Burch pushed the research vessel hard toward the island of Unalaska, with its port city of the same name, situated more than two hundred miles away. Running at top speed all through the night, Burch was able to bring the Deep Endeavor into the commercial fishing port just before ten the next morning. A weathered ambulance waited at the dock to transfer Sarah, Irv, and
    Sandy to the town’s small airfield, where a chartered plane was waiting to whisk them to Anchorage. Dirk insisted on pushing Sarah to the ambulance in her wheelchair and gave her a long kiss on the cheek as she was loaded in.
    “We’ve got a date in Seattle, right? I still owe you a crab dinner,” Dirk said with an engaging smile.
    “I wouldn’t miss it,” Sarah replied sheepishly. “Sandy and I will be down just as soon we’re okay to leave Anchorage.”
    After seeing the CDC team off, Dirk and Burch met with the village public safety officer and gave him a full report of the incident. Dirk provided a detailed description of the mystery fishing trawler and convinced the VPSO to furnish him with a listing of registered fishing vessels from the state licensing authority. The VPSO also agreed to check with the local commercial fishing entities for information but didn’t hold out much hope. Japanese and even Russian fishing boats were known to ply the territorial waters illegally on occasion in search of fertile fishing grounds and had the habit of disappearing whenever the authorities tried to pursue them.
    Burch wasted little time in the port city before turning the Deep Endeavor south, and sailing toward Seattle. Like everyone else, the crew of the ship had plenty of questions about the events of the preceding day but few answers.
    Sarah, Irv, and Sandy endured a noisy and bumpy flight to Anchorage on one of the local twin-engine island-hoppers, arriving at the city’s international airport late in the evening. Two exuberant college interns from the regional CDC office met them at the airport and transferred them to Alaska Regional Hospital, where they underwent a battery of toxicology tests and examinations. By this time, the threesome had regained their strength and were showing no outward signs
    of illness. Oddly, the medical staff was unable to diagnose any abnormal toxicity levels or other ailment with any of the three. After an overnight stay for observation, Sarah, Irv, and Sandy were released from the hospital with a clean bill of health as if nothing at all had happened to them.
    Six days later, the Deep Endeavor cruised quietly into Puget Sound, turning east into the Shilshole Bay just north of Seattle. The research vessel tied up momentarily at the Ballard Locks, where controlled floodgates raised the ship and released it into the fresh water of the ship canal. The Deep Endeavor continued on into Lake Union before slowing along the north shore. Burch inched the vessel up to a private dock jutting from a small modern-looking glass building that housed the NUMA northwest field office. A gathering of the crew’s wives and children lined the dock, waving enthusiastically as the ship approached.
    “Looks like you’ve got your own welcoming committee, Dirk,” Burch remarked, pointing to two figures waving at the end of the pier. Dirk looked out the bridge window and recognized Sarah and Sandy among the happy throng greeting the turquoise ship. Sarah looked radiant in a pair of blue capri pants and a maize satin blouse, which complemented her trim figure.
    “You two look like the model of health,” Dirk said as he warmly greeted the pair.
    “No small part in thanks to you,” Sandy gushed. “Just one night in Alaska Regional Hospital and we were on our way good as new.”
    “How’s Irv?”
    “He’s fine,” Sarah replied. “He’s staying in Anchorage for a few more weeks to coordinate the completion of our sea lion study with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. They agreed to provide field support to help finish our research investigation.”
    “I’m so glad everybody is well. So what was the medical diagnosis in Anchorage?” Dirk asked.
    Sandy and Sarah glanced at each other briefly with a searching look, then shrugged and shook their heads in unison.
    “They didn’t find anything,” Sarah finally said. “It’s something of a mystery. We all showed signs of an inflamed respiratory track, but that was about it. Blood and urine samples came back clean.