1 “This is insane!” Hailey Franklin shouted at the storm. “When you’re right, you’re right.” Vera replied from the passenger seat. Hailey had met Vera Chu at the Portland, Oregon airport car rental counter. They’d gotten to know each other driving through the torrential December rain as they forged west to meet their new billet. Spending two hours together, squinting ahead into the darkness through the thick rivers that the windshield wipers on high couldn’t clear, created a special kind of bond. Their US Coast Guard cutter was berthed in Astoria, Oregon at the mouth of the Columbia River, which divided Oregon and Washington. And apparently it was crewed by fish who could live underwater. “Perhaps there’s a reason there are no scheduled flights to Astoria. Only a crazy pilot would fly