The Doomsday Cipher (An Avalon Adventure Book 3)

by Rob Jones

  This was good luck. The Holcan was a hefty Tri-Deck and they could already see its marine radar array protruding above the Reina, a large Persian blue flybridge moored just in front of their target yacht. They moved toward it with their weapons concealed inside their jackets, led by Cade in his creased Raffia straw hat and Ray-Ban shades. To their left, an old man heaved a marlin up out of a modest fishing boat and gave them a cheery wave as they passed.

  “I hope everyone’s ready for a lively discussion,” Decker said.

  As they passed the Reina’s bow, Selena looked up and saw a handful of men milling around in the pilothouse. On the deck above it, one lone figure was standing in the skylounge. She’d bet the farm it was Danvers, the self-styled Snake King. He was looking away from the marina and out across Government Cut and the Norwegian cruise ship.

  “Time to party, kids,” Riley said. “Know where your guns are.”

  The four of them continued toward the Holcan, Cade in the lead and followed by Decker and Riley with Selena at the rear.

  Noting the absence of guards on the jetty around the yacht, Decker said, “No one to welcome us at the front door?”

  “How rude,” said Selena.

  “Don’t let a good opportunity go to waste, right?” Riley said with a grin. “Up we go.”

  Cade was up the gangway and on the yacht in seconds. Riley was two steps behind him, gun drawn and ready for action. Decker and Selena were on board a second later, reaching for their guns and scanning the deck for any more of the Snake King’s small army.

  Selena didn’t have to look far. Two men turned a corner at the stern end of the deck, walking slowly in casual conversation until one looked up and saw them. They reached for the weapons but Riley was already running toward them. The tall Australian shoulder-barged one straight over the rail and into the sea and then turned and delivered a bone-crunching headbutt into the face of the other, collapsing his nose and sending him crashing to the deck in a spray of blood.

  “Fuck, that hurt!” he called out, rubbing his forehead. “I forget how much that hurt!”

  “Riley!” Selena cried out. She was standing at his side now, along with Cade and Decker. “Finish the job, please.”

  “Sure thing, boss.”

  The punch was a big, ugly shield of seasoned knuckles driven into the man’s temple and knocked him out, hard and cold. He slid down into the pool of blood formed by his smashed nose. Riley disarmed him and tossed the weapon out into the water where the other man was splashing around and calling out, trying to alert the others to the invasion.

  They heard shouting on the deck above them and then a loud, ear-piercing siren. Decker thought it sounded like a standard high-bilge-water alarm, but now it was being used to alert the guards on board to their presence on the yacht. Chaos kicked-in like a rocket booster.

  “We need to split up.” Decker said. “I’ll take Riley and go to the stern. We’ll try and find Atticus and Diaz. Cade, you take Selena and try and find the capstone.”

  Cade gave a two-fingered salute, his fingers brushing against the rim of his straw hat. “Sir, yes sir!”

  “Let’s move!” Decker said.

  Selena watched the former marine lead Riley down the deck and disappear out of sight at the stern. Alone with Cade, she wasn't sure where to start looking for the Stormbringer.

  “Where do you think the bastard is keeping it?” Cade said.

  “I have no idea,” she said with a sigh. “It could be anywhere.”

  “But inside is a good bet, right?

  She nodded and followed Cade into a large seating area full of soft leather couches and potted palms. Then, a man with a long black ponytail burst into the room. He was already gripping a gun, and now he levelled it at them and prepared to fire. Selena knew what she had to do, and brought her gun up but it was too late. Cade fired first and shot him clean through the head. A sickening spray of blood and bone exploded in the air as the man tumbled down onto the coffee-colored carpet.

  “Move on,” Cade said firmly.

  She thought that might be a good idea, and gingerly stepped over the mess as she followed the tanned Floridian out of the room and into the corridor. They were alone, for now. Each raised their weapons and made their way down the narrow passageway. Halfway along, she heard more shooting and a man screaming. Was that Decker? It sounded like him. Her mind filled with images of him being hurt, or worse.

  “Keep going,” Cade said. “It wasn't Mitch. Trust me.”

  She prayed he was right and kept going. They heard movement behind them and turned to see a man entering the passageway by the same door they had just used. He was crouching down and examining the body of his associate on the floor of the lounge area. He didn’t look too happy. He brought his gun up and opened fire on them.

  “Cover!” Cade yelled.

  Caught in a savage fusillade of automatic gunfire, they each crashed through doors on either side of the corridor and rolled out of the line of fire.

  33

  Selena hit the carpet face first and skidded to a halt with a painful friction burn on her cheek. Not a good day. Where the hell was she? Looked like one of the yacht’s impressive staterooms. Another burst of gunfire and more screaming. She twisted her neck and looked up in time to see Cade Thurman leaping across the corridor and crashing down beside her in a hail of lead.

  “Are you insane?” she cried out.

  He brushed himself down and smiled at her. “My psychiatrist prefers the term mildly deranged.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, crazy.”

  They heard the gunman pounding along the corridor and sprinted for cover. Splitting up, Selena ran for a large grand piano and Cade dived behind a sumptuous double bed. The gunman burst into the doorway, gun in his hands, and opened fire again.

  The automatic gunfire cut through the air like lightning as he swept the muzzle from side to side and obliterated the hardwood wall above Selena. When he swung the weapon down to where she had landed, she rolled further under the grand piano with only seconds to spare.

  The bullets ripped into the Steinway, splintering the hard rock maple into matchwood, striking the music wires and ricocheting off the Sitka spruce soundboard. A peel of out-of-tune notes rang out in the mayhem.

  “Mitch never said you could play the piano, Selena!”

  “Such wit,” she mumbled under her breath.

  From his position behind Danvers’s sumptuous double bed, he called out, “Huh?”

  “Can we just concentrate on the armed psychopaths and leave the jokes for later when we’re in the bar, please Cade?”

  He fired on the man, now in the doorway leading out to the foredeck. “When we’re in the bar? I love an optimist!”

  “You sure know how to fill a lady with confidence, Cade Thurman.”

  The man fired again. Rounds seared through Cade’s upper arm. He cried out in pain and dropped his gun.

  Selena saw it from under the piano. “Cade!”

  *

  Decker and Riley ran down to the stern. Entering through a door, they engaged in a short firefight with two armed men in suits. A brief exchange killed one of the men and sent the other retreating into a corridor.

  “Go, go, go!” Decker yelled, leading the way with his gun raised into the aim.

  He swung into the corridor just in time to see the man dragging Atticus out of one of the cabins. He roughly bundled the old professor in front of him to use as a human shield and fired off another few rounds. Still no sign of Diaz. Decker prayed he was still alive and hit the deck. On his stomach now, arms out-stretched before him, he raised his pistol and fired on the man, blowing the top of his skull clean off and spraying the corridor walls with blood and brains.

  “Talk about turning someone into pink mist!” Riley yelled. “Good shot, Cap.”

  As he slumped to the floor, Atticus stepped away and straightened his jacket.

  The old bird’s as cool as a cucumber, Decker thought, climbing to his knees.


  “Ah, Captain Decker!” Atticus said. “How good to see you.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “A little shaken up, but pretty much tip top as usual.”

  Decker reloaded. “Then let’s get out of here. Hopefully, Lena and the others got the capstone.”

  Atticus grabbed his elbow and stopped him as he turned to leave. “It’s more complicated than that now, Mitch. They have another hostage!”

  “We know,” Decker said. “A physicist named Salvador Diaz. Why exactly did they want him?”

  “They’re forcing him to operate the doomsday machine. It’s some sort of amplifier. Physics isn’t my field at all so it was a bit above my level.”

  “Mine too, but we can talk about it later,” Decker said. “Let’s get back to the others.”

  *

  Behind the bed, Cade checked his wound and sighed a breath of relief. Nothing more than a graze, but it had been too close for comfort. Another half inch and he’d have a lead slug in his arm. “I’m fine,” he called back. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Are you certain?” Selena said.

  “Yeah, sure. I love getting shot. I do it all the time.”

  “With your aim I can see why…”

  “Huh?”

  “Nothing… look out!”

  The man in the door rushed forward, compact machine pistol held tight to his body as he closed in on Cade behind the bed. At the foot of the bed he brought his gun up and aimed it on the wounded American. Cade reached out for his dropped gun but he wasn’t fast enough. He stared up at the armed man and winced.

  The report of the gunshot boomed loudly in the stateroom. He opened his eyes to see the gunman drop to his knees, blood bubbling in spurts from his mouth like a fountain. Then the shot man tipped forward, eyes rolling back in his head, and crashed down into the blood-soaked plush pile.

  Selena watched Cade closely as he turned and saw the smoking gun in her hand.

  “You’re more than welcome, Mr Thurman.”

  His heart beat like a drum in his chest. “Where the hell did you learn to shoot like that?”

  “That’s for me to know and you to find out. Right now we have to get out of here! We still haven’t found the capstone.”

  Not exactly sure how he was still alive, Cade snatched up his gun and scrambled out from behind the bed. He trampled over the silk sheets in his filthy, bloody boots and slammed down on the other side, reaching down to help Selena out from behind the trashed piano.

  “I’m just going to put myself in serious mode for a second,” he said. “Thanks.”

  She looked down at his blue checked Bermuda shorts and bright sunset-pink Hawaiian shirt.

  “You’re going to need some new clothes for serious mode, but you’re more than welcome.”

  “Are you and Mitch still an item? Because I sure can see the two of us sharing a sun lounger on Taylor Beach one night.”

  “I think you’d better keep that thought to yourself, Mr Thurman. And yes, Mitch and I are still an item, as you put it. But I am prepared to do one very special thing with you though.”

  His eyes widened and his heart began to speed up again. “What?”

  “Find the frigging capstone!”

  “Sure, roger that. But if you ever change your mind…”

  “The capstone, Cade! Now!”

  With guns held high, they searched the rest of the deck. Quick, quiet and efficient, they made their way from cabin to cabin. Above their heads, the sound of a desperate gunfight crackled and buzzed. Decker and Riley sounded like they might be in trouble, but she had to put it out of her mind.

  “Last cabin on this deck,” Selena said. “We’re running out of places to search!”

  Gun held up into the aim, Cade slowly advanced into the room toward a galvanized steel trunk in the corner. “I think we have it.”

  “You’re counting chickens, Cade.”

  “Maybe.”

  Three padlocks secured the trunk. Cade lifted his gun and shot all three locks open in a shower of hot sparks. Then he carefully raised the lid and looked inside.

  “Well?” she asked, eyes wide and expectant. “Is it in there?”

  “Shoulda waited till the damn chickens hatched, Lena,” he said with a sigh. “Sorry.”

  Selena prayed she was the subject of one of Cade Thurman’s notorious gags. When she reached him beside the trunk, she realized that despite the shirt, he was still on serious mode.

  “Damn it,” she said. “It’s not here.”

  “But it was,” he said. “This was definitely the trunk they used to transport the capstone, right?”

  She nodded. “I’m sure of it. They obviously got nervous because of our presence on the ship and they’ve taken it somewhere else.”

  “And I might know where that is,” Atticus said.

  Selena turned and saw him standing in the doorway. Decker and Riley were right behind him.

  “Dad!” she cried out and rushed to him. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, darling.” He wrapped his arms around her and they hugged for a second. “Totally fine. Danvers just wanted me to assist him in his translation of the glyphs on the capstone.”

  “And the black eye?” she asked.

  “I politely declined his offer of employment, at least at first.”

  She stifled a laugh, but then grew serious. “How could you be so stupid? He might have killed you!”

  “He’s always stupid!” Decker said.

  “Hey! And I thought you were a friend…”

  “What’s that noise?” Selena asked.

  Decker frowned. “What noise?”

  “Like an engine,” she said.

  Riley looked through the porthole and smacked his fist against the bulkhead. “Bugger it! It’s the Holcan’s tender. They’re getting away with the capstone!”

  34

  When they got on deck it was already too late. The ship’s powerful tender was racing away from the yacht, complete with the capstone and Professor Diaz.

  “To the bridge!” Decker said.

  They followed him up to the top deck and quickly reached the yacht’s nerve center. Cade fired up the engine and used the wheel to turn the boat’s bow away from a mooring pole, rapidly taking the yacht out into the middle of the marina. The Snake King and his men were already nearing the main channel. Now they turned and fired on the Holcan.

  Bullets ripped into the yacht’s fiber-glass hull and punched holes in the windows of the wheelhouse. Cade ducked down behind the wheel and the rest of the Avalon crew dived to the floor and rolled away from the shattered glass spraying all over the bridge. Outside on the jetty, the man they had seen with the marlin turned to flee to the shore, but was cut to ribbons by their rounds. He fell dead into the churned up water.

  Cade steered the yacht into a swerving pattern to evade as much of the fire as possible, but the heavy boat was easy to track by the men on the tender.

  Decker scrambled to his feet and aimed his gun through the open window. He opened fire on the fleeing tender, aiming at the man at the helm. He missed, but hit one of the men firing off the stern. The wounded man crashed into the tender’s wake but the Snake King ordered the boat to continue at full speed.

  “Don’t hit Diaz!” Selena said.

  “I can see the damned capstone!” the American yelled.

  “So near and yet so far,” said Riley, pulling up beside him as he smacked a fresh magazine into the grip of his pistol. “Don’t worry, Cap – we’ll get it back!”

  To their left, Selena was levelling her gun through the open window and taking a few pot shots of her own. “Missed.”

  “You’ll get over it,” Riley said. “Especially when I teach you how to shoot straight.”

  “Hey,” she shouted. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re a very cheeky bastard?”

  “I’ve heard it more than ‘good morning’, mate. Why?”

  Selena laughed. “Maybe take it to heart?”

  “
And lose the magic that is me? I can’t deprive this world of that, mate. Never.”

  Selena shook her head. “Can any of that magic actually stop Danvers from getting away with my capstone?”

  “Our capstone,” Riley said.

  “Yes, that’s what I said.”

  Cade turned hard to port and the boat tipped. The momentum of the speed and turn made the crew tumble over to the side. Each grabbed something to hang onto. Atticus, from behind them on the soft seats, said, “I think I feel sick…”

  “Hey!” Cade yelled. “My driving’s not that bad!”

  Selena stifled a scream. “And would someone please just take another shot at those guys, they’re getting away!”

  “It’s not that easy,” Decker said. “We could hit Diaz!”

  “Then aim carefully!”

  Decker raised his gun and focused. With the tender rapidly tearing away from them in the channel, he raised his gun into the aim and opened fire.

  The first shot found its bloody mark. The first struck Diego Novarro in the head, sending him crashing off the side of the speeding tender. The second went off course and punched a neat hole in the gas tank, but failed to ignite the fuel.

  “Damn it!” Decker said. “That’s what I was talking about. You know how lucky we are that thing didn’t explode?”

  Gas started spilling out of the hole and running down into the water. How soon the tender ran out of fuel was anyone’s guess, but they couldn’t count on it. Decker knew firing again could ignite the spilled fuel, and if the boat blew up, not only would Diaz be dead but the heavy metal capstone would be on the sea floor within seconds.

  “We’re running out of options!” Selena said.

  Atticus covered his mouth with his hand. “Is there a sick bag anywhere?”

  “We can still catch them in this thing, right?” Decker asked.

  Cade nodded. “It’s faster than the tender, but much less manoeuvrable. If they continue north into Biscayne Bay they could lose us around some of the artificial islands there.”