by Blake Hudson
“Whisky one, numbers?” Carter asked sharply, as Harris heard this he did a quick head count and signalled to Knox twenty-one.
“Twenty-one Sir, but there is reason to believe there are more hidden aboard in containers. Over.” Knox stressed to Carter.
“Evac with known civilians, and pull Whisky and Bourbon teams. Over,” Carter coolly said with no compassion.
"Copy," Knox said with as much disdain as he could with the four-letter word.
“Harris,” Knox called over and Harris wasted no time in coming over to him.
“Captain…?” Harris looked on at Knox with a sense of urgency.
“If you were to blow this ship up and wanted to hide the explosives where would you do it?” Knox asked with just as much urgency.
“Captain, you heard the Brig’s orders,” Harris said as he was about to turn and get back to evacuating the civilians off the ship.
“Fuck what Carter ordered, I am going to go find and neutralise that bomb. You follow orders Sir and get these girls off the ship,” Knox said as he grabbed Harris’s arm stopping him from turning away.
“Bloody hell Knox, my brother was right about you, you’re Goddamn crazy.”
“Yeah, so I have been told…the bomb Harris?” he reminded him, hoping that what he planned wasn’t as suicidal as it sounded.
“Alright, if it was me I would set and blow the charges on the outside of the hull under the water line,” Harris said with a look that knew Knox was going to do what he had to do. To which Knox nodded in agreement.
“But if what he said in the call was a clue, an inferno...well then if I had to bet on it, I would say…” Harris continued but Knox finished his sentence for him.
“The fuel tanks! Don’t wait for me, Major.” Knox said as he ran to the stairwell like the Hounds of Hell were snapping at his heels. Harris just shook his head before turning to group of girls and instructed them all to follow him, wondering if he would see the crazy bastard after this one.
Meanwhile, Knox ran down flight after flight of the dimly lit staircase with only its demonic glow coming from the strobing red emergency lights. He skipped steps with every stride down. Once at the bottom level, he had sixty or so metres down a straight corridor. All he could hear was his running footsteps that rolled in a beat in sync with his heavy breathing. Sweat poured off his face as the humidity of the lower level and heat from the engines turned the claustrophobic tunnel of a corridor into sauna like conditions. Knox stripped off his gear slowing him down as he ran, but it didn’t help much with the heat.
As Knox reached the engine room he found the door locked but on closer inspection saw it was welded shut.
“NEST come in over!" Knox said into his comms as he tried to catch his breath as he looked all around himself as he waited for a reply.
“NEST receiving, over.” could just be heard through interference, the com system signal struggled to cut through the vast metal ship.
“Main entrance to the engine room blocked is there an alternative way in that is close to my location? Over." Knox asked as he waited hoping Carter wasn't listening in. After a brief wait, a familiar voice came over the comms, one less clinical.
“Knox, to the left of the doorway, three or four metres down is a vent, can you gain access?” spoke Rose.
“Yes, I have found it and pulled it off," Knox said as he located the vent pulling it off with brute force winning over screws.
“Good, crawl through and take the right at the first junction, you should then come across a vent that will allow access to the engine room,” Rose said with urgency as Knox crawled reaching the junction and following her instructions.
“Access? It must be a sixteen-foot drop!" Knox yelled down the comms as he wiped away the sweat cascading down his face.
“Come on, big tough guy like you, you will be fine. NEST out.” Rose said with a touch too much pleasure for Knox’s liking. He kicked the vent out and watched it fall to the ground as it bounced off railings and pipework. He looked over his options and saw a way down, he had one chance to get it right or broken bones were a guarantee. He lowered himself down and hung by his fingertips before he began to swing himself back and forth, building momentum with each swing. He then let out a bellow as he launched himself forward with arms extended out, he just caught hold of a five-inch pipe that he thanked the heavens wasn’t hot. Knox took a moment and geared himself up before dropping the last ten or so feet, breaking his fall with a paratrooper style landing.
Bingo! The start of the fuel tanks could just be made out at the end of the engine room, and the closer Knox ran over to them the clearer the bomb setup was. The fuel tanks had big blocks of Semtex stuck to them every ten metres. With the amount of Semtex and fuel, it was more than overkill, it was complete obliteration.
All the blocks were linked together via a harness of wiring, more wires than was needed for such a simple plastic explosive. The number of different coloured wires was a confuse and delay tactic. Where would you even start to work out which wire was live or redundant in a short space of time? The detonator was strapped in black tape with a basic mobile phone connected to it.
Shit! What was he going to do, Knox thought to himself as he stood looking at the device, then a glance at his watch informed him he had only two minutes left. Knox took his com interface and took a photo of the setup, and as he was about to send the picture back to the NEST he saw he had no signal. With a slap of his hand on the nearest solid object out of frustration he ran back the way he came, constantly checking if he had signal, but nothing.
“Come on… damn you!” Knox swore, exasperated.
He reached the bottom of the stairs that led up to the door that was welded shut, knowing that he had a signal the other side of the door. Knox ran up the steps in desperation and pushed himself against the door as much as he could.
“Yes…! Knox calling NEST, come in,” he said as fast as possible.
“NEST receiving, over,” replied Rose.
“I am sending you an image I need to know how to disarm, over," Knox said as he hit the send key, his whole body bounced and tapped almost like a runner running on the spot to keep warm.
“Knox, it has a mobile phone as a means of receiving a signal to set off the detonator," Rose stressed wasting no time.
“How can it get signal if my comms can’t when I am near the bomb?” Knox said confused.
“I believe the cables running into the phone that don't go to the explosive but do go upwards, are a means of extending the signal, cut them!” Rose said in a way that she had no doubt, and facing facts, it wasn’t as if Knox had a choice. He didn’t reply, just looked at his watch as he ran back to the bomb. He had little over forty seconds. He held the wire going into the phone and drew his knife, and pinching the wire into a loop he fed the tip of the blade into it.
Knox closed his eyes and took what felt like the longest breath of his life, as he stood in front of potentially one point five million gallons of oil seconds away from detonation… he cut the purple wire. Knowing he wouldn't feel much if it did blow, he waited and waited then slowly opened one eye.
“Jesus…” Knox said as he slumped down on his arse, finding some oil and grease covered surface to sit on. Images of Dani at the hotel and the Gala dinner filled his mind's eye as he stared at his watch, double then triple checked the time. After five or so more minutes and still nothing, he made his way back to the vent picking up a set of ladders stowed in the engine room tool area.
Back up on deck everywhere was clear of the girls and the two teams. Knox stood at the ship’s railings and looked out to the coastline where he could make out the rigid inflatable travelling at a steady slow speed as it sat low in the water, close to being overloaded.
“Calling Eye in the sky this is Whisky one, over," Knox said with a mixture of fatigue and contentment.
“Knox, you disobeyed a direct order," Carter barked down the comms which made Knox thankful
it was over a comms and not in person.
“Device neutralised Sir, still live but not a threat,” Knox said as he tried to deflect the bollocking that was coming his way.
“Hold tight Captain, we will soon have you airlifted out of there,” Carter said in a more relaxed manner.
“Yes Sir, and the rest of the search of the ship and total deactivation of the device?” Knox cautiously asked as he spotted a Spanish coast guard’s ship in the distance on an intercept course with the smoke bellowing vessel, which he was sure was attracting a lot of attention from the shoreline.
“We will inform the Spanish authorities and let them get in on the action and take the credit for taking down a people trafficking shipment,” Carter said as he too knew the coast guard wasn't far away.
“I will carry on the search whilst I wait, over,” Knox said as he geared himself up and got his head back in the game.
“Copy that Captain, let’s hope you find nothing, over.”
Knox looked out over the expanse of containers and looked for one of them to stand out to him, but the task looked impossible. Deflated, Knox kicked a red fire bucket that was filled with sand, and as the sand spread across the deck the empty bucket spun around on its own axis. Knox stared at it, and then it came to him, an idea.
He looked over at the container Isabella and the group of girls were found in. The container had Arabic markings of some kind, then he looked at the empty containers they had opened. They all had Pérez Trans Corp logos on. Knox had a theory that if they were going to load a ship full of empty containers they would have to be Trans Corp’s as which other company could afford to have empty containers sailing around.
Knox found the closest container with Arabic markings and opened it up. As light flooded into the container he was not prepared for what he saw next. Knox looked away, covering his mouth with his arm trying his hardest not to vomit. He had seen horrific and blood-curdling sights on the battlefield and in war-torn cities, towns and villages. But what he saw before him, affected him deep down to the depths of what was left of his soul.
Before him, bound to a stack of wooden pallets, hung what was left of a blonde woman. Beaten black and blue, clothes torn away soaked in blood that had poured from between her legs and had dried to an almost black tar.
Used condoms littered the floor around her, along with urine stains and excrement. She had been raped, beaten and left for dead. Knox, for some unknown reason, had to look at her face, he just had too. So, with an outstretched hand, he moved closer to her. Her face was covered by filthy blonde hair that looked like damp rotting straw it was that thick with grime. Knox parted her hair to look at her battered face, he fell backwards at the sight. He stumbled and landed on the ground hard but he didn’t feel it as he scrambled back until his back pushed against something solid.
Knox saw… Dani.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Hurt
Harris now stood next to Knox. He had been calling him from the moment he had seen him from a distance, but Knox had zoned out. Maybe fatigue had set in or something had just snapped. Harris placed a hand on Knox’s shoulder as for a moment Harris had thought maybe Knox was dead he was so still as he stared into nothing, not even a single blink.
“Captain? Knox! Are you alright?” Harris said with a forceful tone as he shook Knox’s shoulder and clicked his fingers with his other hand. Knox drew his gun as he came to from his daze spooked, not realising it was Harris at first.
“Easy Knox it’s me, Harris,” Harris said in his normal calm manner as he took hold of Knox’s hand before he had fully drawn the weapon. Harris looked over in the direction Knox was looking and saw the horrendous sight and things became clear to him.
“Major, what are you doing here? Sorry… it’s…its…” Knox said as he tried to compose himself, but with the sight of Dani in his mind, he could barely find the words.
“Well, I couldn’t leave you here on your own. I made sure everyone got off and I had every faith you would stop the bomb. And you don’t need to explain Captain, this can affect us all in its unique way.” Harris looked over again to the blonde girl.
“And the more times you see Godawful sights like that, it still doesn’t make it any easier, trust me,” he said as he held out an open hand. Knox looked at it and took hold as Harris helped him to his feet.
“Poor girl, she couldn’t be much older than twenty, most likely from an eastern bloc country,” Harris said as he looked over the blonde, his face chiselled with antipathy for the men who had done this to her.
“Eastern bloc…?” Knox said confused as he rubbed his eyes and shook his head. Harris looked at him as if he wasn’t sure if Knox was fully okay.
“Yes, Captain, Eastern bloc… The Former Soviet Union, she looks Estonian or Latvian to me,” Harris said as he walked past her and looked deeper into the container behind the pallets. Knox looked back up at the girl and then let out a sigh of utter relief. Thankfully, he no longer saw Dani and instead, the face of a young girl he didn’t know. Seconds later he felt the guilt not only at the relief that it wasn’t Dani as this poor girl had suffered something no one should have. But the biggest guilt of all was the fact Dani being in his life lay her open to this.
Knox had enemies, most of them he didn’t even know. If he totalled up all the people he had killed without even knowing their names, Christ he had forgotten more than he could remember. Any one of them could have a family member or friend looking to take revenge if they could track him down. It was too big a risk to put Dani in, and seeing this girl had hammered it home to Knox in a way he wasn’t ever coming back from.
Harris came back out of the girl’s gruesome, metal resting place, looking sickened and breathless as he sucked in a massive inhale once he cleared the container.
“Harris to Carter, come in,” Harris said right away into his comms as he caught his breath.
“Carter here, go ahead Major,” replied a stern Carter.
“Captain Knox has found a second container with over thirty girls in there, Sir. There are also casualties and sadly fatalities,” Harris said confirming Knox’s fears of there being more dead girls.
“Copy Major, Spanish coastguard will be there to supply aid and evac, we need to get you two off that ship. Sending the chopper, so leave the Spanish authorities to it. Extract location same as drop off ETA three minutes, over,” Carter instructed and Harris slapped Knox on the arm in a motion to gear Knox up and to make a move.
“Copy Sir on our way, ETA three minutes, over,” Harris confirmed as they started to jog to the extract location.
Back at T.I.7 Knox and Harris walked into the NEST and Carter made a beeline for them.
“Major, Captain, report.” an expectant Carter said obviously pissed off at Knox and Harris for not following orders in getting off the ship when told to.
“Sir…” Harris said but stopped as he watched Knox carry on walking and blank Carter as he headed straight to where Howard was being detained.
“Knox! I said report!” Carter shouted as both he and Harris began following Knox who still ignored Carter. He burst into the room and looked Howard in the eyes as he looked up at Knox with a smug grin. With a hard kick to the centre of Howard’s chest, Knox sent him flying a few feet backwards before the chair tipped over slamming down onto the floor. Harris held Knox back as he was about to leap forward.
“You, fucking bastard! You knew those girls were on there!” Knox raged out at Howard
“Knox, stand down!" Carter bellowed as Harris let Knox pull through his grip. Harris understood how Knox felt and having witnessed what he had, he couldn’t blame him. After all, he would be the same but his style wouldn’t be so open and obvious. No, Harris would kill quietly in the dead of night with his victim’s last sight on earth being Harris’ cold dark eyes staring into theirs as he slit their throat.
Knox stood over Howard and grabbed a fist full of his boot imprinted shirt, he pulled him
up off the ground, chair and all and punched him between the eyes. The crack of his nose was followed by the sound of a cough and spit as the blood flowed down the back of Howard’s throat from his nose, blocking his airways.
“Who is El Toro! Give him up!” Knox roared at Howard as he lifted his fist high into the air ready to pummel Howard’s head into the ground.
“Knox! Put him down! That’s an order!” Carter barked and something clicked inside of Knox as he regained his control. He had picked Howard up again and was holding him twelve or so inches off the floor. He ignored the blood that streamed down Howard’s face and dropped him. Howard let out a groan over the sound of splintering wood as he hit the ground hard, his face grimaced trying to hold itself up so the back of his skull didn’t bounce off the concrete.
“Yes Knox, listen to your top dog. You, fucking state school mongrel,” Howard said before he spat a load of blood on the floor beside Knox’s boot. Carter raised an eyebrow as he walked around Howard.
