Bellrock Cove

By Frank O’Connor

Bellrock cove is a busy seaside resort at the mouth of the River Shannon. Its also home to an Elite Coastguard Special Operations unit. Primarily their job is search and rescue, but a busy waterway brings many challenges and smuggling is one that regularly puts their detection skills to the test. Prior to a major boating event, a quantity of heroin is found at a quiet beach north of the town which leads to a series of shootouts and chases on both land and sea. A farmer is also found dead under suspicious circumstances. Could there be a connection? Just to complicate things further and heap more pressure on the now overstretched unit, a light aircraft sends out a May-day call as the boating event is underway.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Nov 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514464113

Frank O’Connor

Frank has been in involved in frontline emergency response for over thirty five years. He started his career in the mid-seventies as a firefighter and later became involved in Marine Search and Rescue. As an Instructor, Frank teaches all levels of First Aid, Emergency Response and basic Life Support and has written a book on the subject that can be used as both a training manual and reference book. It has always been his ambition to write about rescue but it wasn’t until he published his first book (Advanced First Aid for First Responder on Scene) that he started to dabble with the idea of writing a rescue story in the fictional sense. He felt that the time was now right to put all that accumulated experience dealing with real-life emergencies to work for him and now, here it is. Enjoy!

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Bellrock Cove

Frank O’Connor

Copyright © 2015 by Frank O’Connor.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The story of Bellrock Cove and its characters is purely fictional. Any similarities to past incidents or historical events are purely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 11/13/2015

Xlibris

800-056-3182

www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

521194

Contents

About the Author

1 The Fishing Trip

2 An Inspector Calls

3 The Missing Tourist

4 A History Lesson

5 Man Overboard

6 Missing Tourist Has a Name or Two!

7 Dinner Invitation

8 Two Men in a Boat

9 Shots Fired

10 The Calm before the Storm

11 Jet Ski Rescue

12 Dead on Arrival

13 What a Way to Die!

14 Planning for the Weekend

15 Downtime Conversations

16 Upturned Boat Reported

17 A Mole in the Unit!

18 More Downtime Conversations

19 I’ll Walk You Home

20 A Good Nights Work

21 Follow the Van

22 The Weekend Begins

23 The Briefing

24 The Regatta Begins

25 Exchanging War Stories

26 Lifeguard Assist

27 Post-Mortem Results

28 May-Day, May-Day, May-Day

29 Aircraft Down- Persons in the water!

30 The Search for Zulu Juliet Two Zero Zero Four

31 You Can’t Save Everyone!

32 Aircraft Located

33 Plan to Recover

34 Accidents Will Happen

35 Breaking News and Borrowed Cars

36 A Successful Lift!

37 They’re Out!

38 Tango Four Recovery

39 Sharks in the Water

40 Recovery of a Missing Tourist

41 End of a Long Day

42 CCTV

43 The Good Night Kiss

44 Unusual Activities at Sea

45 Arrest the Snapshot!

46 Question Time

47 Prepare to Be Boarded

48 Intercept and Arrest that Rib

49 A Warrant to Search

50 The Chase Ends

51 Discovery at the Plant

52 End of the Line for Sean

53 Formal Interrogations

54 First Confession

55 Medical Emergency

56 Cotter Makes a Slipup

57 Major Discovery at Port of Finn

58 A Tragedy Witnessed

59 Cotters Son Confesses

60 A Double Hit

61 This Is Where They Cut It

62 The House with the Green Roof

63 Alan Puts On an Air Show

64 Fall from a Height

65 We Have a Visitor

66 The Next Shift

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About the Author

Advanced First Aid for First Responder on Scene

F rank O’Connor delves into over thirty years of frontline emergency response experience to bring you his first work of fiction.

Bellrock Cove is a busy seaside resort at the mouth of the River Shannon. It’s also home to an elite Coastguard special operations unit. Primarily their job is search and rescue, but a busy waterway brings many challenges, and smuggling is one that regularly puts their detection skills to the test. Prior to a major boating event, a quantity of heroin is found at a quiet beach north of the town which leads to a series of shootouts and chases on both land and sea. A farmer is also found dead under suspicious circumstances. Could there be a connection? Just to complicate things further and heap more pressure on the now overstretched unit, a light aircraft sends out a may day call as the boating event is underway.

1

The Fishing Trip

F or most people, Monday generally means the start of another working week, but for John Lynch, it’s one of his days off. So to him it’s one of the best days of the week because it allows him the freedom to pursue his most passionate hobby, fishing. John owns a 7.6 metre cabin cruiser with a 200 horsepower engine, and today he’ll head north for the sandbank which is a well-known hotspot for good fishing. Weatherman says it’ll be hot, getting up to around 23 degrees, starting off slightly cloudy at first and clearing later with a light southwesterly breeze. The tide is running nicely so it should be good for a couple of Tope, a Ray or two, or at worst a few turbot! Mike says he should be on the pier at around 9.30 a.m. with his usual offering of an icebox full of cold ones to go with John’s food basket. Mike Williams and John are in the same rescue unit based at Bellrock Cove at the mouth of the River Shannon. But this is no ordinary rescue unit and is one of only four Coastguard special operations units in the country. Because the Shannon is such a busy river, it takes a lot of policing and the navy isn’t always around. So as part of the special ops function, the Coastguard has a sixty-seven foot cruiser to assist in patrolling the vast shipping way. Apart from marine rescue, which is the unit’s primary function, they also respond to cliff accidents with the help of an on-call cliff rescue team and have a fully operational medical centre complete with two ambulances with two shifts of twelve EMTs and paramedics. What makes this unit different however is that everyone is trained in the use of all types of firearms and are often called upon to inspect suspicious and sometimes hostile traffic in the estuary or to assist the navy when boarding vessels suspected of carrying illegal cargo. After a busy week, today is a stress-free day. This is the perfect way to chill out and get your head together thought John as he fuels the boat and carries out a few checks before Mike’s arrival. Being a fanatic about boats, keeping things in top seaworthy condition is second nature to him, and he has often been known to come down hard on crews for sloppy maintenance when he’s on duty. Mike arrives bang on time, and as they prepare to cast off, John turns on the VHF and reports his intentions… ‘Bellrock Coastguard, this is the vessel Skimmer over.’

‘Go ahead, Skimmer, this is Bellrock Coastguard’, comes the reply at once from a familiar voice of one of his colleagues.

‘Bellrock Coastguard, just to let you know we will be at sea for approximately four hours with two persons on board in or around the sandbank area over.’

‘Roger that John all copied, I hope you have better luck than the last time. See you when you get back, out. Roger that, out.’

After almost two hours of underproductive fishing over the sandbank, the fishes are slow to bite except for the odd small turbot. So Mike decides to chill, have beer and a bite to eat. The sea is all but flat calm with only the smallest of swells. The gannets are high in the sky searching the clear green water for sprat, occasionally dropping like a missile at their target. ‘Well, at least someone’s catching fish!’ exclaimed Mike.

‘You going out tonight, John?’

‘Don’t know. Early start tomorrow. So I might get the head down, you?’

‘I think I might visit that new club on Main Street and check out the wildlife.’

Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, John spots the distinctive nod of Mike’s rod tip. ‘Mike, your rod! I think you might be in business!’ As he grabs his fishing rod it hits again. He strikes to set the hook and this time the fish runs with the bait, peeling line off the reel at a fantastic rate.

‘Game on, Mike. It’s a Tope for sure, and a good one.

‘What can I say, John. When you’re hot you’re hot. I’ll get my line out of the water just in case we get a tangle.’ Nearby, about 200 yards south of their boat, another crew out to enjoy a day’s fishing look on as Mike and the creature on the end of the line do battle.

‘He’s a lively one for sure, Mike!’

‘You can say that again. He’s not exactly letting you have it all your own way, is he? You’ll have to get one of those fancy fishing chairs fitted to the back of this deck, John!’

‘Yah, right. Next you’ll be telling me we need a bigger boat! Anyway, the chair would probably cost more than this old tub. Want me to get someone to bait your hook and wipe the sweat off your brow as we’re at it?’

‘That would be nice, and I know just the one for the job!’

‘Look, Mike, you’re hardly able to play that little sprat at the end of your line not to mind thinking of playing that redhead you keep drooling over at Tony’s! Honestly, I’ve seen you drool so much over her. It’s a wonder you don’t wear a dribbler!’

‘Very funny, John, You have to admit though, she’s a looker!’

‘I wouldn’t know, Mike. I’m a happily married man!’

‘You mean you were! When’s the divorce coming through eh?’

‘Oh, you know… whenever it suits the lawyers. By the time they’re paid, all I’ll have left is my freedom!’

‘Well, that you will truly have my friend… that you will truly have!’

‘Hey, the pagers have just been activated for a missing person sighting. Wonder if it could be anything to do with that German that went off the quarry a while back?’

‘Who knows, John. Anyway, we’re off duty and the Ice Lady is the officer in charge today and she’s more than capable of sorting it out!’

‘Too right. She is!’

‘Yah… I believe Chris took his wife shopping to the big smoke early this morning.’

‘Yep, he told me they’d be heading off about seven. They wanted to go as early in the week as possible. He’ll be back by lunchtime though. With the holiday weekend on the horizon it’ll be hard for any of us to get a minute’s peace!’

‘We’ve a lot of organising to do. But if we start early enough in the week, we won’t be under too much pressure nearer the time. You know what they say, Mike, in times of peace, prepare for war!’

‘You know, John… whoever came up with that saying was a clever man.’

‘I agree.’

‘Looks like he’s slowing down a bit, John!’

‘Don’t let him fool you, Mike. There’s fight left in him yet! He’ll make a few more runs before he’s ready to call it a day. And run he does; but after a further ten challenging minutes the tope finally gives up the fight and is brought to the side of the boat. I must take a photo or two to show that smart ass back at base so let’s get him in.’

The fish is tailed and brought on board where Mike poses for John like the great white hunter showing off his trophy.

‘OK, you have enough photos here now to fill an album. Let’s get the scale. Nice one, Mike. Thirty-two pounds. Good fish! Now, we’d better put him back to fight another day, anyway it’s nearly time we headed back in.’

On the journey back, they move within a hundred yards of the high cliffs which are always sensational to look at. The different shades of orange and brown in the foreground of the blue-black shale cliff face appears striking as the sun shines over it. The seagulls are loud and glide gracefully as they bring food to their young in the many nests high up on the cliff face. The odd seal also pops up for a look around, but doesn’t appear to be impressed by our presence and slowly without making a ripple, slips under the surface once more. What a way to spend a day, the suntan is free; the scenery is spectacular and we have a few fish to boot. Life is good. Sure is Mike.

‘Bellrock Coastguard, this is the vessel Skimmer over.’

‘Go ahead over.’

‘Just letting you know we’re back and tying up now over.’

‘Roger that.’

As they prepare to leave, the radio comes alive again.

‘Bellrock Coastguard to Skimmer, can you both report to station ASAP over?’

‘Will do, out. Can’t leave them alone for a minute, can you?’

‘Can’t even have a day off in peace! What would they do if we weren’t around?’

‘Well, John, they’d better learn because my holidays are booked for after the holiday weekend and even if the sky fell in, I’m still going.’

The short walk along the pier was silent to say the least wondering if it was anything to do with that missing person. Could it be someone they knew? As they approached the entrance to the car park to the left of the base, the sight of two patrol cars from the local police station told them there was something going to interfere with the remainder of their day-off. Sergeant Jerry Byrne was leaning on the boot of the patrol car having a quiet smoke as he chatted to one his fellow officers.

‘Hi, Jerry. What’s up? Looks like a hell of a party is going on and we almost didn’t get an invite,’ smiled John.

‘Well, you’re invited now! The boss is inside trying to sort things out with your lot. It seems some kids playing on the beach at smugglers found a couple of packets of heroin and I don’t mean small ones, but rest assured you’ll hear all about it when you go in.’ Commander Chris Kelly had arrived a little earlier along with the rest of the lads from A-watch but decided to hold things up for a few minutes as he had seen John and Mike tie up at the pier and as John was B-watch commander it was important that he was here from the start. The incident room or den as its sometimes called was buzzing as it does during a callout, but the sight of a police inspector and a few detectives made it that more interesting to say the least.

‘Hi, Mike. How was the fishing?’

Mike looks at Chris with a face like a cat after a large bowl of milk. ‘Marvellous, Chris, bloody marvellous. You should have been with us.’

‘I would have been, but you know I had to take the gang shopping and it takes as much out of you as playing a specimen fish for an hour. Luckily we were just home before this call came in. I saw you tying up as I came in and held things up until you were here, so you’d hear it all from the start. Anne is inside already and has been getting some Intel from the police.’

‘Honestly, Chris, it was my best ever, thirty two pounds of quality tope.’

‘Well done. I guess you’re buying the drinks at Tony’s tonight!’

‘Quiet please, gentlemen. Let’s have your attention for a moment,’ came a voice from top of the room. All eyes and ears focused on this stranger wearing a grey suit showing signs of perspiration starting to appear under the armpits of his jacket as he attempted to settle everyone. Anne hands him a bottle of still water and passes around several others to anyone who wanted one. As everyone settles down, the inspector introduces himself.

2

An Inspector Calls

‘L adies and Gentlemen, my name is Inspector Tom Hyland, and before I get into this, I want to apologise for bringing you all in at short notice. Some of you are here on your time off and I’m really sorry for cutting into your freedom but this is important. We have in our possession two packets of heroin found by three young children on the beach at Smugglers Cove. As you’ve probably guessed already, I’m new to Bellrock Cove. In fact I’ve never been here before, so I’m really depending on your local knowledge on this one. Most of you guys know the place well and that to us is very important. I rely on local knowledge to make things happen and with your help, we might close this quickly.’

‘I wish he’d get to the point,’ Anne whispers under her breath in the background. It’s bloody hot in here. Anne is 2 IC or second in command and one of four women in the unit. She’s a fully trained and very experienced paramedic and a great partner to have on your side when you’re in a tight spot. Anne’s known as the ice lady because nothing rattles her cage, and she’s as cool as you can get in any situation.

Inspector Hyland continues, ‘The reason the pagers went off was to cover for this operation and to justify the presence of the police activity. This was your officer’s idea, Anne, I believe?’

‘Yes. That’s right, Inspector. I figured there would be less attention drawn to us.’

‘Anyway, according to Anne, missing person’s callouts are quite common, so it’s the perfect cover. By now the word will be on the street that something is up so the story we’re going with is that of a sighting of that missing person you guys are presently looking for. That way we can search the area and attract no more attention than usual.’

As the inspector is in full flight the phone rings. Anne picks up the receiver and says, ‘Good afternoon Bellrock Cove Coastguard. Can I help you?’ As she deals with the phone call, Inspector Hyland examines maps and charts of the area. Chris felt it was time to introduce himself the other officers properly and get to know what Hyland was all about as it would probably be Mike and Chris who would be working the water and shorelines.

‘Inspector… Chris Kelly’s the name. I’m A-watch commander, and over there by the window is Mike Williams, senior coxswain. Commander Lynch has just stepped outside to take a phone call and will be back with us in a minute. Our introduction was halted as Anne came over. Looks like the press are on the ball, Commander. They appear to have wind of what’s happening.’

The inspector’s face lights up as he turns looking quite worried. ‘What do you mean the press knows?’

‘Well, inspector. They asked why the pagers went off and what all the police were doing in the area. I told them, there has been a reported sighting of that missing person in our area, but as yet we are trying to confirm it and as soon as we hear anything we’ll release a statement. I also asked the reporter to keep things quiet for the moment as we didn’t want to get people’s hopes up and he agreed. We have a fairly healthy working relationship with the local press so there’s a bit of give and take!’

‘How did these kids find the stuff anyway, inspector?’

‘Well, Chris, mind if I call you Chris?’

‘Not at all. Please do.’

‘We try to keep things informal among ourselves when the public aren’t around. It seems these children – three boys aged about twelve or thirteen – were playing on some rocks by a cave when one of them spotted what they thought was a ball in one of the caves. The chap that went in for what turned out to be an orange lobster pot marker buoy saw a clear plastic package bound with brown tape tucked in a ledge near the back of the cave and not very well hidden. He picked it up and brought it to his parents. His father guessed that it was drugs of some sort and phoned us, and in the meantime went back with the young fellow and found a second package. Our guess is that it wasn’t meant to be there too long and was hidden in a hurry. My guess is that someone is going to pick that stuff up sometime soon, and when they do, I want them caught, think you guys can help?’

‘I think so, Mike. Give John a shout. He just went outside to take a call.’

‘Will do, back in a minute!’

‘Inspector, this is John Lynch, B-watch commander.’

‘Hello, John. Nice to meet you.’

‘John and I run the show here. Normally we’re on separate shifts, but when there’s a major shout or during busy holiday weekends we share responsibilities.’

‘Gentlemen, I need to know what you’ve got in terms of equipment and manpower.’

‘Well, Inspector, we have two D-class inflatables. They’re the small inflatable boats you may have seen as you came in and the Atlantic 7.5 metre rib is the bigger one. These are referred to as seventy-fives in the trade! We also have a sixty-seven-foot cruiser with a range of 300 miles with a maximum speed of twenty-eight knots. We run two twelve-hour shifts of twelve personnel. The cruiser with a crew of four is used for coastal patrol and is also a first response resource both in the estuary and outside. It’ll work in all weather conditions and it’s self-righting and self-bailing, and the fact that we have all kinds of surveillance equipment for both day and night makes it a valuable piece of kit. We can check any fair size vessel’s whereabouts at a glance and our on-board system allows us to track them anywhere within our range. By contacting the navy we can track them further out to sea through their computer system. It’s the small ones that are hard to find because unless they have radar deflectors they are invisible due to the fact that the craft is too small to be picked up on the radar. However we have nailed quite a few in the past for both poaching and trying to smuggle drugs using our night vision equipment. They think that because it’s dark that they’re safe, but we follow them at a distance and when they make the drop or pick-up we move in. We use the inflatables for surf rescue and inshore work and the A-7.5 rib for anything further out to sea that requires a quick response. All personnel are trained in firearms and we have a cliff rescue unit on call on the pager system.’

‘Can I ask you where those people are now, Inspector?’

‘They’re in safe hands, Chris. I arranged for them to be taken home in case they might be recognised. I’ve advised them to say nothing to anyone, and if anyone asked, they were never near Bellrock Cove. I have an officer keeping a discreet eye on them, but I doubt if anyone saw them.’

‘Fair enough, Inspector. The last thing we want is for someone innocent to get hurt.’

‘Why don’t we take the boat and have a look while the lads are doing their search along the cliffs for our tourist?’

‘OK. That sounds like a good idea.’

‘John, we’re taking a D-class and crew to smugglers cove for a look. When we’re at sea, I’ll call you on the radio and I’m taking a hand-held as well. Anything sensitive that needs to be said I’ll have my sat-phone.’

‘OK, Chris. See you later. Let’s get you into a dry-suit first, Inspector.’

As our esteemed lawman climbs aboard the inflatable, one could sense he wasn’t used to boats, and as Chris watched him looking around for somewhere to sit, he looked even more worried. When he helped him on with a life jacket God only knows what went through his mind. ‘Where does one sit in this thing?’

‘You don’t sit, Inspector. It’s a rescue boat! You kneel down facing the bow. That’s the front of the boat, and when you see a wave coming at you, you brace yourself and hang on tight.’

Chris was tempted to take the mickey and make up a doomsday story, but his good nature got the better of him.

‘This is a joke, right?’

‘No joke. The boat is designed for inshore rescue and seats would be useless because in a rescue or recovery situation we need the space to lay out the casualty or the body. It handles very well in the surf, and anyway as you can see the tide is flat calm. So there’s no problem? Trust me. We haven’t lost anyone overboard for a while now!’

As we made our way, the inspector began to relax a bit. In fact he was like a tourist as he took in the sights along the way and asked about a thousand questions.

‘Bellrock Coastguard, this is Rescue Delta one on routine patrol in the Smugglers Cove area with four persons on board over.’

‘Roger that Rescue Delta one, listening out.’

‘We’re almost there. It’s just around the corner, so mind how you get out.’

‘Wait until we beach the boat.’

As coxswain Billy Gallagher steers the inflatable into shallow water, the inspector and Chris jump out and stroll casually around the small beach gradually moving towards the cave. ‘Wow, what a place! How high are these cliffs?’

‘They’re around a 175 five feet here, but are up to 250 feet further north. Every year we get several calls here but mostly for people who get trapped by the tide. If you look there to your left, there’s a connecting beach that’s easy enough to climb down onto that allows you access at low water, but people stay too long and the tide cuts them off. There’s a way up just left of that cave over there, but it’s not for the faint hearted. It’s very steep and because of the nature of the cliff, it’s nearly always slimy. A lot of water drains naturally from the land, so it rarely dries up. We’ve had a few falls in recent times from there. Once the people who get trapped here don’t panic they’re fine. There’s almost always someone walking the cliffs this time of year so we get the calls. Eventually though someone will get caught and no one will be walking on top to see or hear them. But everyone has a phone now so they could call for help themselves?’

‘Yah, everyone does have a phone, but if you’re near the cliff, you won’t get a signal! This time of year the tide is calm. However in winter, when the weather gets bad, the waves hit with such force the spray goes over the top. We’ve also had a few rockfalls in this area over the last few years due to the prolonged wet conditions over the winter months. The soil gets saturated and heavy and loses its grip on the rock and down it comes! We had one back in February that brought down over a hundred tonnes just north of here!’

‘Was anyone hurt, Chris?’

‘No. It was in a totally inaccessible area, but if someone was walking on the cliff top at the time they’d have got a surprise. How did your guys get down here, Inspector?’

‘It was one of the local lads that knew the place who responded and met with the family. He was in plain clothes, so he didn’t look too out of place.’

3

The Missing Tourist

‘T his missing person, Chris, what happened?’

‘Well, I can only tell what we know at present and that’s not much. His name is Kurt Rosenberg, aged thirty-one, originally from Frankfurt in Germany. He was staying at the Bay View Hotel on Main Street and had been there for about two weeks. I’ve seen him a few times at the bar… bit of a loner though. Apparently he was trying to rent or lease a place locally to use as a holiday home. He received a phone call around breakfast time eight days ago, and according to the receptionist he became very upset and went upstairs, changed his clothes and went out. When he didn’t return by the next morning the police were called. They searched his room and his belongings and found that his credit cards and the keys of his hire car were still there, so he couldn’t have gone very far.

‘At around five o’clock on the day he disappeared, a man answering to his description was seen on the cliffs near an old quarry just standing there looking out at the sea. The chap that saw him is the farmer who owns the land and was checking cattle at the time. He’s a nice old guy who keeps himself to himself, has a few drinks on a Sunday night and that’s it for the week. He approached the man to ask if he was all right, and he just said he was fine and wanted to know what time it was. That was the last time he was seen. However, there was another chap nearby wearing what the farmer described as a tracksuit of similar colours to our own gear, but he was a bit far away at the time to be sure. He did say that the guy in the tracksuit eventually met up with our missing person, and they were standing near the cliff edge talking for a while. He continued checking his fence as the cattle were being moved to new grazing and because people use the cliff walk a lot he was preoccupied with insuring that the bull wouldn’t be a problem. When he looked again there was only the guy in the tracksuit. A bit dangerous don’t you think having a bull near where people walk?’

‘Not really, Tom. Once you stick to your side of the fence and keep away from the cattle, he doesn’t see you as a threat, and besides, it’s the farmers land. The cliff walk is more a right of way that has been there for generations. Originally people kept to a path outside the boundaries which were high ditches that gave shelter to the animals during the winter months, but years of erosion took care of