The Sea Rats

by David Leadbeater

  Tensions among the passengers were rising. Earlier, she and Luther had been forced to subdue an escalating argument and she had noticed, out of the corner of her eye, how Pigswill and Scarface had aimed their AKs at the squabblers, pretended to blow their heads off, and then laugh.

  The stress level aboard ship was reaching critical level. It was much more than the conditions, it was the malicious, apathetic, overconfident attitude of the pirates. Mai couldn’t see it going another day without incident.

  Hours later, men, women and children started rising, chatting and eating. It was only then that Drake felt comfortable contacting the USS Bainbridge through the comms system. Mai was holding her breath, waiting for the news.

  “Everyone present?” Drake asked first.

  “We’re all here.” It was Hayden’s voice, which acted as a pleasant anchor point for Mai. She had a lot of faith in Hayden. Her voice somehow made the current situation easier to deal with.

  “This isn’t only a hostage situation,” Drake said. “Yes, the pirates want their bloody loot, jewelry, watches, wallets and all. They are also planning on kidnapping a few of the mega-wealthy for good measure. But, primarily, would you believe there’s another motive for all this?”

  “These days,” Kinimaka sighed, “nothing surprises me.”

  “Well, hold on to your lei, mate, ’cause this one’s gonna rock your world.” Drake spent a few moments describing and naming the four pirates they’d seen, especially the boss, Kobe, before continuing. “There’s an individual on board, an old Russian named Volkov. Now, Volkov is very important. This whole hostage situation is a blind so that this Volkov can be identified and captured.”

  “They seized an ocean liner to find one passenger?” Dahl asked in disbelief. “Who is this guy?”

  “Some kind of bygone whistleblower. A major pain in the arse of the Soviets and the KGB. They called him the Viper.”

  Hayden whistled and Kinimaka grunted before speaking. “You’re kidding me. Even I’ve heard of the Viper. The guy’s a fucking legend in CIA circles. Back in the eighties he provided enough information to sink an entire corrupt regime called the Soviet Union. Using his Intel, the CIA killed high-ranking Soviets and turned a dozen more. There was blackmail, pay-offs and some extremely unsavory stuff. The Viper is like . . . the God of Spies.”

  “I kind of got that from hearing Kobe and his cronies talking. If they didn’t want to find and hand him over to their boss, they’d be paid up members of his fan club.”

  Hayden spoke up. “But everyone assumed Volkov was dead. That the old Russians got to him and took their revenge. The Viper vanished.”

  “Did you know the CIA tried to kill him?”

  Hayden was silent for a moment. “I heard the rumor, as everyone always does. But it’s just another rumor. Nobody really believes it.”

  “That’s why big corporations do nothing to quash rumors and office talk,” Kenzie said with surprising conviction. “Because, occasionally, the rumors are true, and nobody ever believes it.”

  “The CIA apparently tried five times,” Drake said, knowing not just Hayden and the rest of the Strike Force team were listening but some of the ship’s crew and the rear admiral as well. This conversation would be reported back. “Volkov still walked away.”

  “Good for the Viper then,” Dahl said. “He betrayed his country for the CI-fucking-A who then betrayed him. He went to ground?”

  “Looks like it. Thirty years in hiding and not a sniff. He’s that good. But they never stopped hunting him and, unfortunately, the old KGB men didn’t die and the Viper finally decided to take a cruise with his new girlfriend.”

  “Are you saying Salene somehow found out?” Hayden said with some disbelief evident in her voice. “And what—he’s gonna ransom the Volkov back to these old Soviets?”

  “That sounds plausible,” Drake said. “But it’s imprecise. There’s another player here, someone we couldn’t have imagined.”

  Dahl coughed into the sudden silence. “Go on then.”

  “The Devil,” Drake said. “He’s responsible for hiring Salene to find Volkov.”

  The ensuing silence was profound and extended. Mai could imagine the rest of the team, like her, reeling in shock, trying to come to terms with the new information. What did it mean? How did it affect them? More importantly, how did it affect the passengers? And why the hell was the Devil involved?

  Too many questions. Mai shut them down. Hayden spoke up a few seconds later, proving her own thought processes had delved a little deeper.

  “The Devil doesn’t murder for himself. He’s working for someone.”

  “It stands to reason that he’s working for the old Soviets and whatever the KGB has become,” Drake said. “But that’s not the issue. The pirates appear to be out of time for reasons unknown. They’re gonna start hard interrogations later this morning.”

  “On the passengers?”

  “Yeah, older women primarily. They want to flush this Volkov guy out.”

  “We’re ready to go,” Dahl said. “Green light the HQ attack now.”

  Hayden concurred. “We’re ready and able to hit Salene where it hurts,” she told Drake. “Full scale attack. You’ll be able to hear and see it from the ship, no doubt.”

  “That might not help us,” Mai put in. “Salene, even under attack, will not cross the Devil. The pirates will carry on regardless.”

  “You’re right. Can you neutralize the pirates without endangering the passengers?”

  Mai knew there were still pirates unaccounted for and they hadn’t even made it up to the bridge yet. Who knew how the captain and his officers were faring?

  Drake took his time answering. “I won’t say that’s impossible,” he said finally. “Every mission has its dangers. This one though, I can’t say. Something doesn’t feel right.”

  Now Hayden paused. “What does that mean?”

  “I’d say there’s a lot doesn’t feel right,” Dahl interjected.

  “I agree,” Drake said. “But there are some odd things this Kobe said. That it didn’t matter what the passengers were told about the pirates’ ulterior mission and that some pirates are needed elsewhere on this ship.”

  Hayden digested that. “Could mean the bridge?”

  “Or something else,” Drake said. “Either way, it doesn’t feel right.”

  “I understand that,” Rear Admiral Ryder put in. “But we can’t just stand here and do nothing. We’re attacking that HQ. I suggest you position yourselves to best help those passengers.”

  “And if the Devil has other plans?” Alicia asked.

  “I don’t know any Devil and I honestly can’t see where you’re going with this. You think they’re about to start executing passengers? No—because they know we’d send in the SEALs. You think they’re trying to abduct all of them? No—it’s not possible.”

  “And what of Volkov?”

  “The Viper? I believe he’s incidental at the moment. The passengers take priority.”

  “Then you and I must agree to disagree,” Drake said. “Because I think Volkov is the priority.”

  Hayden stepped in, sensing the heat rising. “I can’t stop the ground assault,” she said. “So you should make ready.”

  “Make sure you get Salene,” Drake said. “Everything depends on you catching him.”

  There were several supportive comments. Dahl promised he would make that his first priority.

  “Just a thought,” Hayden said. “Can you guys find Volkov? Quietly?”

  “Send a photo,” Drake said. “Before and after, using the aging software. Any personal info that we can use to show him we’re on his side.”

  “It’s all thirty years old, but we’ll send it anyway.”

  Mai had been assessing the area, watching the pirates as Drake conducted his conversation. Twice, she’d had to jump to her feet and walk past Pigswill, thus diverting his attention from the corner of the room where Drake sat. It wasn’t pleasant; she knew his ey
es were upon her, but it safeguarded the mission and all these passengers.

  For now.

  She spent the time his eyes were on her deciding how she would kill him.

  So . . . not a total loss.

  Mai chose food that was fast going stale or starting to rot. They were already on whatever canned food was available. The water was running low, so they were on canned soft drinks for the most part. Some of the drinks’ machines had broken. Mai stood at the sorry buffet, looking around at the bedraggled passengers.

  They had no idea what would happen today.

  For the most part, that was a blessing.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Karin Blake struggled to come to terms with the anger she saw building in Dino, an anger that grew deeper every day.

  Generally, she knew Dino was fine. The wound had healed as well as could be expected. But the wound inside Dino was another matter. The Italian-American was a doer, an independent young man who liked to try everything from field sports to extreme hobbies to different cuisines. Whether he was good or bad at the sport, or loved or hated the food didn’t matter. It was the experience that was important.

  Dino’s handicap could be much worse, she knew that. So did Dino. But that didn’t stop his fears, frustrations and regret rising to the surface every minute of every damn day.

  Seated in the hospital’s garden, surrounded by low hanging trees, a manicured lawn sloping before them, it seemed a good place for Dino to allow his body and mind to heal. Dino wasn’t taking it on board.

  “Just bad luck,” Karin was saying for the hundredth time. “It could have been anyone.” Yes, the words were generic, she knew, but they’d already gone over what happened countless times.

  “But it was me.” Though Dino’s voice was low, it was studded with anger. His face, always so smooth and boyish, was creased with stress and mental pain. There was a sheen of sweat along the top of his lip.

  “We’ll get through it. We’ve already had offers.”

  “You’ve had an offer. Me? I don’t know what the hell I can do anymore.”

  “There’s no rush.”

  “I need to be doing something apart from sitting here. All this recuperating shit is killing me.”

  Karin tried a smile. “That’s ironic, eh? But I think it’s best to deal with this head on. We’re out of the Strike Force team, out of the field. Where do we go next?”

  “Out of the field,” Dino echoed miserably. “At twenty-goddamn-five.”

  “You make it sound as if you’re on the scrap heap. This is just the start of another opportunity for us.”

  Dino screwed his face up. “You sound like a friggin’ doctor, trying to set my head straight. I want straight talk, Karin, not to hear the ridiculous company bullshit.”

  “For fuck’s sake.” Karin jumped to her feet, sending her chair scraping backward. Her voice traveled through the hospital grounds, disturbing birds and patients walking arm in arm with their loved ones, alike. “It’s nobody’s fault. You can’t take it back. It’s either move on or wallow for the rest of your life. You want to wallow? If you do, tell me now, so I can make arrangements.”

  Dino tried hard to hide the hurt, but it came through in his eyes, in his sudden tears. “That’s a bit harsh.”

  Karin nodded, thinking the same thing herself, but knowing he needed to hear the words. “It is. You’re fucking right. But I am trying. I wish I could take it away. Hell, I wish it had been me. Not you. And you can rage against it all you like. But facing and accepting what happened is crucial. Your wrist has healed, your mind not so much.”

  “I can’t accept that this is how the rest of my life is gonna be. I was . . . a soldier.”

  Karin bit her bottom lip as Dino raised the stump of his arm to show her. It was still heavily bandaged, though the doctors didn’t recommend it. Karin thought the bandage was due to Dino not wanting to face a new, challenging reality.

  “You’ve lost nothing except a hand,” Karin said. “You still have your legs. Your heart. You’ve still got what little mental acuity you always had. You’ve still got that.”

  “I was always better than you, Blake. How am I gonna keep up with you now?”

  “You were never better than me, mate. I just enjoyed letting you believe you were.”

  Dino acknowledged the rejoinder with a wan smile but there was no emotion in it. Karin wondered if he even heard her words through the mental barriers he’d raised. Maybe it was time for a different tack.

  “The Strike Force coordinator—this mysterious G—wants me to set up a HQ. Something central for all the teams, not necessarily to visit or work at, but to coordinate from. A hub from which we could distribute updated information and help them in the field. It’s an important next step.”

  “Sounds great.”

  “I was thinking I would accept the job on the proviso that he includes you in the set up. What do you think?”

  Dino opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. Karin thought he looked genuinely surprised.

  After several seconds, though, he looked down at his bandage-wrapped stump. “I lost my typing hand.”

  “There are some pretty good prosthetics out there now. And the tech we’d be using doesn’t need fingers. Your voice would do.”

  “You want to move back to an office? You? The girl who joined SPEAR when she was bored and wanted action, then enrolled in the Army, became a deserter, and helped saved the President? I doubt that’s what you really want to do for the rest of your life.” Dino couldn’t meet her eyes.

  “Dammit, Dino, why don’t you listen to me? We were talking about getting out of the Strike Force team before Tokyo. We were talking about it in Vegas.”

  “We were?”

  “Yeah, did that scratch on your wrist break your memory too?”

  Dino blinked rapidly, shocked at her words. Hopefully, shocked out of his self-pitying torpor. “Scratch?” he repeated in shock.

  “A lot of good people died under that mountain. Dallas was killed. And I don’t need to remind you that I almost died at the hands of the Blood King when we lost Smyth and Lauren. Need I go on?”

  Dino shook his head and looked away. “So, I’m pathetic,” he said. “I should be happy. Is that what you’re saying?”

  “I’m saying nothing else, because I know all you’ll do is use my words to twist my meaning. I don’t mean any of this in a bad way. I’m not trying to force or hurt you. I just want my man back.”

  Dino opened his mouth to speak but then snapped it closed. Probably just as well. The mood he was in, Karin doubted anything good would have come out of it. A major issue for her was that she sympathized with Dino; she knew why he was acting the way he was. And she didn’t blame him. The Strike Force team were already off on another adventure, fighting Somali pirates or something. Karin didn’t particularly envy them any longer. She wanted something else out of her military career.

  Which brought her back to Dino. The new job setting up the Strike Force HQ and support center was honest work, important work. Getting the right person in place that could dig up vital information and relay it to the team might, one day, save their lives. She was the right person. Dino could be too, if he allowed it to develop.

  “We should get out of here,” Dino said.

  “The hospital? You don’t like it?”

  “Tokyo. We should go back to the US.”

  “I guess.”

  “You guess? You know what I’m missing? Some good old Denny’s hash browns. A Tony Roma steak. A friggin’ In n Out. That’s what I want.”

  “And that’s gonna make you better?”

  “It’ll put a smile on my face at least.”

  “Well, hallelujah. I’ll get us on the first flight.”

  Dino wasn’t looking at her. “I don’t think I’ll come back to Japan. I lost a lot here.”

  “It wasn’t our choice, but yeah, Zuki’s hospitality sucked balls.”

  “Zuki?”

  “You don’t reme
mber her? The spoiled brat that orchestrated the entire sacred treasures thing to drag her royal family back into the limelight. Ruthless. Used her status to hurt and kill and rule over her supposed subjects.”

  “Yeah, now I remember. Ultimately, she was the cause of this.” Dino raised his stump again.

  “It’s not all about you, mate. She’s rotting in prison now whilst we’re sitting in the sun. That’s a small win, eh?”

  “Let’s hope she stays that way.”

  Karin stayed quiet, her thoughts a little troubled. Dino couldn’t remember the old Blood King escaping prison, but she could. And she remembered the result of that, the hell and terror it brought to her life. Zuki had been a powerful, privileged and terrible enemy. If she ever escaped prison, she would bear an enormous grudge for the team that put her there and decimated all her plans.

  But, for now, there was Dino to think about. Dino, and their new life. They were quiet for a few minutes, each one lost in their own deep reflections, but then Dino surprised her by asking a question.

  “Where is this new HQ anyway?”

  “Someplace south of Chicago,” Karin told him. “I don’t know where exactly.”

  “Is it cool?”

  “Well, I don’t think it’s the Avengers building or anything but yeah, it’ll be cool.”

  Dino stared at the sunlit gardens that surrounded them. “I don’t know why, but this depresses me. Maybe it’s the sight of so many other patients trying their best to recuperate. Maybe it’s trying too hard. I think I want some normality, like I said. Take me back, Karin. Let’s get out of here.”

  Karin smiled, pleased to see any kind of resolve and motivation in Dino. It was the first request he’d made, and she would honor it to the letter. Before they’d even left the gardens, she was on to the Strike Force HQ and asking them to sort out a plane. Any plane. The first plane to the US.

  Thoughts of a new job near Chicago ran through her head.

  What worried her was her apparent lack of stability. She’d seen what running did to Alicia. How Alicia had fought to overcome it. Was Karin running from the death of her parents and her brother? Still running? Was she running from the death of Komodo?