CHAPTER 50 (PART - A)


Tintin clenched his fist as he put on a black coat and his small satchel that the Professor had given to him. He took out his utility belt which the Captain had mistakenly demonstrated in the lab. He reviewed the contents making sure that he knew each item and its use so he could is it in a moment’s notice.

Thoughts were flashing in his mind about what could play out even though he fought hard to keep his mind clear. Tintin was nerves were gnawing at his iron will. The HM Custom Guardsmen were closely watching the ships ahead and trying to navigate as close as possible without them noticing. Even Snowy began whining a bit sensing his master’s anxiety.

“Tintin? Is everything ok?” Chang whispered to him with concern.
“Yes…I’m fine…” Tintin said absent mindedly still seeing images in his mind of a not so good outcome.
Snowy continued whining and tried to jump up on Tintin.
Tintin ignored Snowy as he had one hand on his gun and the other on the belt of his satchel staring directly ahead.
“Snowy! What’s wrong?” Thomson said picking up Tintin’s little friend.
Snowy responded by whining a little licking Thompson directly on the nose.
“Now Snowy! You know that…tha—ah—ah aacchhooooo!” Thompson sneezed.
“For Pete’s sake Thompson!” Thomson said taking Snowy, but Snowy gave Thomson a kiss on the nose as well.

“Snowy…boy…you know…ah-ah ahhh choooo!” Thomson sneezed as well.
“Here Chang! Take him!” Thomson began frantically searching for a handkerchief.
“What’s wrong Snowy?” Chang asked sensing Snowy’s concern.
“Tintin, I think Snowy is trying to tell you something” Chang said handing Snowy to Tintin.
“Hehehe! Both of you aren’t allergic to my poor Snowy are you?” Tintin laughed briefly.
“I think Chang is right Tintin! Aaachoo!” Thomson sneezed again.
“Maybe we are allergic to his kisses…ah-ah!” Thompson started to sneeze but found a handkerchief and blew his nose hard.
“Hey Thompson! Don’t be so greedy with the hanky now will you!” Thomson scolded.
“Why Detectives, you’ve been close to Snowy like this before and you never sneezed like that” Tintin was amused.

“Well Tintin… I don’t think it’s Snowy so much you see…” Thomson started.
“Not so much Snowy…but the kisses on the nose…” Thompson finished wiping his nose handing Thomson the used handkerchief as Thomson gave him a disgusted look. Thomson blew his nose as one would a trumpet.
“I think Snowy accomplished what he sat out to do” Chang smiled.
“I’m sorry everyone… I will try to be a better…” Tintin said petting Snowy.
Officer Riley looked at the four of them and sighed, “What a hapless bunch you are”.
“Perhaps we are Riley, but we are the only ‘hapless’ bunch that will deal with these criminals” Tintin replied calmly.

“Suspected criminals, we didn’t actually see them get on the ship” Officer Jenkins corrected.
“Fine, we’ll do our job” Tintin didn’t want to argue.
“We’d better slow the ship down. Perhaps with this fog we won’t even be noticed” Officer Jenkins replied.
“I see the ship we’ve been following, it looks like it’s come to a stop” Officer Riley commented.
“Tintin! Up ahead just through the fog—that’s…the Sea Serpent” Chang whispered pointing at the lights ahead.

“Great Snakes!” Tintin whispered just able to see the outline of the ship.
The wind picked up a bit and the waves became just a bit choppier. The boat began rocking more even at their slow speed.
“That’s strange, for the weather to begin changing so quickly” Thomson observed glancing through the front.

“Indeed it is, one can never predict what the sea will bring” Thompson agreed.
“I think this is as close as we should get” Tintin suddenly suggested as they were now somewhere in between the cargo ship they were tailing and the Sea Serpent.
“I can see both ships silhouettes and their lit areas, I wonder if they can see us?” Officer Riley said a bit concerned.

“Chang, let’s step outside to see if we can see and hear better. Officer Riley, can I use your binoculars?” Tintin asked quickly.
“Sure, just be careful” Officer Riley said taking them off from around his neck. Tintin and Chang quickly stepped out near the front of the boot as Tintin tries to focus on what’s going on up ahead.

A couple of smaller boats went speeding by towards the Sea Serpent which was lit up on the opposite end. The boats stop barely visible next to the Sea Serpent. Voices shouting can be heard over the waves but not loud enough to be understood. Chang waits patiently next to Tintin trying to listen and watch. Tintin can’t see the railing so well, but sees something or someone being thrown overboard.

“Huh?” Tintin suddenly reacted a bit taken back.
“Look Chang!” Tintin whispers handing him the binoculars as the waves make it increasingly difficult to get a steady view.
“They just threw something overboard!” Chang exclaimed.
“Again?” Tintin asked bit worried.
“Yes…oh! Another!” Chang replied with a bit of disgust in his voice.
“Did you just see that?!” Thomson said a bit startled by the sudden movement.
“Indeed I did Thomson! What in blazes?!” Thompson echoed his sentiment.
“Shh…not so loud Detectives… if we do have any element of surprise we need to keep it. What did you see?” Tintin scolded.
“Oh sorry Tintin” Thompson nodded.
“Sorry we are Tintin we saw a bright bolt of lightning in the sky” Thomson frowned as he was trying to see what Chang was looking at.
“Chang give us a look” Thompson said holding his hand out for the binoculars.

“Ok but be careful not to drop them” Chang warned.
Thompson looked through noticing a couple of crates were being loaded onto the Sea Serpent. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary.
“They seem to be loading some cargo of some kind” Thompson strained to look.
“It’s hard to tell what could be in those crates” Tintin commented.
“Give me a look now will ya Thompson!” Thomson said reaching to take the binoculars from Thompson.

“Now just wait a minute!” Thompson snapped.
After a few moments the boats began to speed back to the other cargo boat, and it was at that point Thompson noticed something odd as a wave caused him to look into the water near the Sea Serpent.

“Now ain’t that strange!” Thompson gasped.
“What do you see?” Tintin asked curiously.
“For a moment there I thought I saw someone swimming in the water, I looked again and they were gone” Thompson said with a perplexed look on his face.
“Who?! Could you see what they looked like?” Tintin asked a bit panicked.
“I couldn’t tell… it looked like they dived under water?” Thompson answered a bit confused.
“What are you talking about Thompson? It’s my turn now! You’ve had them long enough!” Thomson said impatiently.
“Wait! I’m not finished yet!” Thompson snapped back moving the binoculars out of Thomson’s reach. At that moment big wave came by rocking the boat a bit more than usual causing both of them to lose their balance as a result of their horseplay.
“Whoa!” both of them shouted grabbing onto each other about to fall into the water.
“Detectives!” Tintin whispered loudly.
Having only a moment to react, Tintin and Chang quickly reached out and grabbed both Detectives keeping them from falling into the water.

“Oh no! The binoculars!” Chang panicked as Thompson let go of them.
“You are a hapless bunch! The lot of ya!” Officer Riley scolded quickly snatching the binoculars in the air as Thompson dropped them.
Tintin and Chang didn’t even hear Officer Riley come out of the steering room.
“All of you are making enough noise out here to scare a ghost away! Now be still! The lot of ya!” Officer Riley continued to scold them as he took his binoculars back into the steering room.
“What’s wrong with him?” Thomson frowned.

“Yea, he needs to calm down a bit” Thompson agreed as Tintin and Chang made sure both Detectives had their balance back.
“No Detectives, he’s right! We may as well forget about the element of surprise now for sure” Tintin said a bit agitated.
“We’re your boss Tintin!” Thomson retorted back.
“Precisely, you should show us a bit more respect” Thompson nodded.
A surge of anger really came over Tintin as his face began to turn a shade of red.
“Respect!?” Tintin almost bellowed but caught his self.
“Tintin please” Chang interjected quietly.
Tintin took a deep breath after hearing Chang’s voice of reason.
“Listen Detectives, you do have my respect, but since you are both my boss it’s high time the both of you start acting like it!” Tintin said in a low voice.
Both Thompson and Thomson looked at Tintin in dismay as he walked back to the steering room.

“Come on Detectives you can do better than this, you must be more careful” Chang said tactfully.
“You see Chang a subordinate does not treat his boss like that” Thomson complained.
“I understand Mr. Thomson, but you must also understand not only do we have a mission, but for Tintin this is much more personal as we believe his brother is also a captive on board this ship” Chang quietly explained patiently.
“Tintin was very upset, what do you think Thomson?” Thompson noticed Tintin speaking to the HM Customs Guards.

“I wouldn’t say upset Detectives, just nervous and needs you to do your best—“ Chang paused looking over the boat sensing the sudden change in the air. Then Chang noticed a feint peculiar smell.
“Best what Chang?” Thomson questioned a bit annoyed knowing Chang was right.
“Shhh!” Chang quietly began looking around the edges of the front of the boat as it rocked around the waves.
Chang ducked down on his hands and knees grabbing a life saver with a rope attached.

“Is someone drowning?” Thomson whispered.
“Arm yourselves Detectives and be ready” Chang said more serious than usual. Thomson and Thompson looked at each other confused but got down on their hands taking out their guns. None of the Detectives saw anything suspicious but decided maybe Chang could be right.

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