Marauder

by Clive Cussler

  Rahal nodded. “We’ll cooperate. And my company will pay your ransom.”

  “That’s very good to hear,” the scarred hijacker said. “Because if you give us any trouble, I’ll leave all fifteen of you on board, and you can go down with your ship when I blow it up in the strait.”

  TWO

  RAVENHALL, AUSTRALIA

  April Jin paced around her beat-up Ford as she waited in the parking lot of the Ravenhall Correctional Centre. Although the asphalt was already baking from the morning sun, there was no way she would set foot inside the prison doors again. She’d been coming here for three years now on weekly visits, and the sterile white walls inside reminded her of her own two-year stay at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre for women. Bile rose in her throat at the thought of ever walking back into the place.

  The front doors of Ravenhall’s main entrance finally opened, and she smiled when she saw Angus Polk strut out with a hardened look in his eyes. His erect posture and cropped hair hinted at his military background, marred only by the presence of a light beard. In his jeans and stretched T-shirt, he displayed a newfound bulk, thanks to his daily workouts in the yard, which had added definition to his tall frame. His face softened into a broad smile when he spotted his waiting wife.

  Jin met her husband and melted into his arms. He lifted her from her feet as if she weighed nothing.

  “You’ve lost weight,” he said.

  “Morning runs to stay in shape and light rations while dining alone.”

  Jin had a slim, slightly muscular figure. Her straight black hair was worn short, highlighting her lean face and dark, probing eyes.

  After she gave Polk a long kiss, she said, “I can’t believe they let you out.”

  “Free at last, thanks to my new favorite words—‘early release.’ Apparently all that good behavior inside paid off.” They put their arms around each other and walked toward the car. “Thanks for coming to meet me,” he said. “I’ll be glad to get home . . . wherever that is.”

  “You may not like our flat much better than your cell. It’s the size of a birdhouse.”

  “As long as you are there, it will feel like a palace.” They stopped as they approached the car. “Have you been managing all right?”

  “The money’s been tough, I won’t lie. No one wants to hire an ex-con who’s sold out their government. I’ve found some freelance translation work, but it barely covers the bills.”

  “No support from our old patron?”

  She shook her head. “Not a word.”

  “Some thanks. Well, I’ve got an old mate who left the service and started a small business. Maybe he’ll give me some work until we sort things out.” He patted the hood of the car. “Mind if I drive? I kind of missed it.”

  Before she could pass over the car keys, a limousine pulled into the lot and slowly cruised toward them.

  “Now, that’s how to depart the joint in style,” Polk said.

  To Jin’s surprise, it stopped right in front of them. The chauffeur got out and opened the rear door for a man in a tailored pin-striped suit. An attorney for sure. Jin had seen enough in her life to spot one instantly.

  He held out a card. “Mr. Polk and Ms. Jin, I’m William Campbell.”

  He didn’t ask if that was who they were. He knew.

  “What’s this about?” Polk asked as he took the card.

  “I represent the estate of Lu Yang. Would you please join me?” He gestured for them to get in the limo.

  “Did you say ‘the estate’ of Lu Yang?” Jin asked.

  “Yes. I’m afraid he recently passed.”

  Jin and Polk looked at each other in surprise.

  “I’m afraid I can’t discuss any details here,” Campbell said. “But I can assure you that this does not concern any of your criminal matters. In fact, I believe you will find the reason for our meeting most beneficial.”

  Jin looked at her battered truck, and Campbell said, “If you like, we can have your vehicle towed to a car lot for sale. When our business is concluded, you will no longer need it. Alternatively, you may drive to our offices on your own, but I think you will find the limousine more comfortable.”

  Jin and Polk looked around. Their past dealings with Lu Yang had always been highly secretive, and always through a third party. Sending a limo to pick them up, in front of a prison no less, was highly out of character. But then again, the man was now dead.

  Jin and Polk climbed into the limo, settling into the luxurious leather seats across from Campbell.

  As it drove off, Polk leaned over and asked his wife, “Did you know Lu Yang was ill?”

  She shook her head. For ten years, her mother had been married to the Chinese tech mogul, though he didn’t come into his extreme wealth until after they’d divorced. Jin’s ex-stepfather had taken care of her mother, though, and supported Jin from afar, grooming her skills until he could put them to use for his benefit.

  “When did he die?” Jin asked Campbell.

  “He tragically passed away just a few days ago. More will be explained to you both when we reach Melbourne.”

  Jin glanced at Polk and saw a hopeful gaze in his eyes. He knew just as well as she did what that meant.

  They were going to a reading of her stepfather’s will.

  It took thirty minutes to reach downtown Melbourne, where they stopped in front of one of its glistening towers. An elevator whisked them to the fiftieth floor. Campbell ushered them into a posh conference room, where they had an expansive view of the city skyline. He pushed a button, and wall panels folded back to reveal a huge TV.

  “Please,” Campbell said, indicating chairs along the mahogany conference table. A silver pitcher of ice water and some glasses had been set out for them. He handed Jin a remote and a sealed envelope with her name on it. “Once I leave the room, just press play. You’ll be asked for a code, which is contained in that envelope.”

  “You’re not reading his will?” Polk asked.

  “I’m afraid not. The video will explain everything.”

  He nodded and closed the door behind him as he left.

  Polk turned to his wife and said, “What’s going on here?”

  “Let’s find out.” Jin opened the envelope and found a note card with nothing on it but a sixteen-digit number written by hand. She pressed PLAY on the remote and was prompted to enter the code.

  When she did, an image of an elegant office came on the screen. At the center of the screen, seated at a desk, was Lu Yang. Jin felt her breath catch at seeing him, but she quickly saw that he was no longer the stern and strong disciplinarian she remembered.

  Instead, his eyes were sunken, his hair was stringy, and the hands tented on the desk were skeletal.

  “Hello, April,” Lu said in English with a soft Shanghai accent, sending a jolt down her spine. “Mr. Polk, you must be there, too, as I’d required. We never met in person, but my name is Lu Yang. As you know by now, I am dead.”

  Jin reached for Polk’s hand to steady herself.

  “I realize the past few years have been difficult for you both, on account of a breach in security that was not of your doing. As you know, one of our operatives turned informant to the Australian Federal Police. He was eliminated before revealing the full extent of my operations in the country, but regrettably disclosed your respective data-gathering activities in the military’s defense technology and intelligence arenas. Up till now, it has forced me to sever communications between us, for everyone’s security. While you may have felt abandoned, that was not actually the case. Your defense attorneys were the best in the land, paid at my expense. And your respective early releases were no fluke. Let’s just say that several members of the parole review board are sitting on thicker wallets today. But that is all in the past. Today, I need you, April. You and your husband are the only ones I can count on to carry out my last wishes.”<
br />
  “You’re asking a lot, after what we’ve been through,” Jin muttered.

  “I realize you may be reluctant to do so,” Lu said as if to answer her. “But you need me as much as I need you. Possibly more. Just five years ago, you were both models of your professions. Mr. Polk was a veteran of the Special Operations Command and a senior analyst in the Department of Defence. And April was Lieutenant Jin, an Intelligence Officer in the Royal Australian Navy, well on her way to attaining flag rank. You were both outstanding undercover operatives, acquiring the latest technological data for my company, and for China. But because those activities were exposed, you were stripped of your titles, fired from your jobs, and spent years in prison. This has left you destitute, with little, perhaps, except your fondness for each other. I intend to remedy that, but require a final request.”

  Lu began coughing and paused to take a sip of water, and Polk pointed irritably at the screen. “We know what happened. Are we just here to receive a lecture and another opportunity to get sold down the river?”

  Jin put her hand up to quiet him. She wanted to see where this was going.

  “Pardon me,” Lu said, putting down the glass. “I have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, you see. I was well on my way to doing something truly epic with my life, but according to what the doctors are telling me, I have only a few weeks left. So I won’t be able to carry out my vision. But you two can. You proved your loyalty during your criminal convictions by not revealing your ties to me. You also have the necessary talents to fulfill my objective. Mr. Polk, aside from your defense analytics, you were an accomplished commando leader, skilled at field tactics and leading men into battle. April, your naval experience gave you expertise in maritime weapons systems and counterintelligence. A perfect combination to make my operation a success.”

  Lu smiled. “Perhaps you are thinking, ‘Why would I do anything more for my dying stepfather after what happened?’ Well, let me give you two reasons. One, of course, is to help China take its rightful role as world leader by securing its military might. This you have both aided greatly with your past actions. The second is financial. Your lives and careers in Australia have been ruined. The government confiscated all your assets, including the hard-earned monies you earned from me. They even dissolved your military pensions, leaving you pariahs in your own country. You have few resources, and even fewer prospects ahead of you. But I can remedy your losses and allow you a future beyond your wildest dreams.”

  He winced as he lifted a case and placed it on the desk, opened it, and spun it around. It was piled to the brim with American one-hundred-dollar bills.

  “This is one million U.S. dollars. I’m giving it to you, both for your past efforts and as an enticement. The lawyers will hand this case to you when you leave this room. You can take the case and run if you like, but we all know that a mere million dollars won’t restore all that you have lost. I’m betting that it will only whet your appetite for what truly lies at the end of the rainbow.”

  Lu closed the case again, and Jin glanced at Polk. His eyes were glued to the screen.

  “Because if you do as I request, using this case as seed money as well as additional resources I have provided for you to accomplish the task I have laid out, you will receive the rest of my fortune, valued at nine hundred and thirty-eight million U.S. dollars.”

  Jin gaped at her husband. They thought their lives were essentially over when they went to prison. Now they were getting a shot at more than they could ever imagine.

  “The money is locked away in CroesusCoin cryptocurrency. It will remain there until ten major newspapers from across the globe carry news articles confirming that you have completed your objective. I have designed a software program that scans the news websites and will release the lock on the cryptocurrency once the stories have been verified. To give you an incentive not to dawdle, I have provided a deadline. If you fail to complete the task by the appointed date, the account will be sealed forever. No one will ever get my money. It will simply vanish.” He looked sternly into the camera. “As you know, I am not one to reward failure.”

  Lu smiled. “I suppose you may doubt whether my offer is legitimate.”

  Polk nodded. “The thought crossed my mind.”

  “The code you entered to start this video is also the account number. Look it up.” He told her the login and password. “You may see the current balance, but you will not be able to access the funds in any way until the proper criteria are met.”

  With a trembling hand, Jin pushed PAUSE on the remote, freezing Lu’s cadaverous gaze on them. She brought up the website for CroesusCoin on her phone and logged in. Just as Lu said, the balance was more than nine hundred million dollars. But the boxes for inputting wire transfer instructions were inaccessible, and there was a countdown timer.

  It gave them just weeks before the account was locked permanently.

  She showed the web page to Polk, who sat back in his chair to process what he’d seen.

  “I don’t believe it.”

  “Believe it,” Jin said. “My ex-stepfather wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble for a prank. He was cruel, but never wasteful with his time. Whatever he’s proposing, he’s serious about it. He has no other heirs, so we are the logical recipients of his estate.”

  “But he’s not just giving it to us. We have to earn it.”

  “Yes. But knowing how intelligent and precise he was, he will have planned his ‘tasks’ down to the last detail. As you can see, he has no shortage of resources to ensure its success.”

  Polk thought a moment. “I hate to say it, but he is correct. We’re both nearing forty, our military careers are over, and we have no legitimate job prospects. We hitched our wagon to Lu Yang and lost everything; our Canberra home and our beach house on Bondi, our cars, even our investment account in Brunei that we thought was untouchable. Now that he’s dead, we don’t even have any contacts in China that could help us. A million dollars is a nice offering, but pales compared to a billion dollars.”

  “For this much money, he must be asking a lot. We have to assume it will involve great danger and risk.” She squeezed his hand. “After waiting for you so long, I don’t want anything to happen to us now.”

  Polk shrugged. “If we can trust him, we can pull off whatever he wants. And once we do, then we’ll have all the protection money we’ll ever need.”

  Jin nodded. “True.”

  “The question is, do you trust him?” Polk asked.

  Jin thought a moment. “He’s a harsh man, but he never deceived us, or my mother. And he’s right about his ongoing support. We both should have served much longer prison sentences. I think we can believe what he says.”

  “We put our lives on the line for him in the past, for much less reward, and we’re still standing. We know what’s at risk, but we’ll now have the resources to protect ourselves.” Polk gazed at Jin with a confident air. “Let’s see what he wants.”

  She pressed PLAY on the remote.

  Lu Yang leaned toward the camera. “I’m glad you see it my way. Now, here’s what I want you to do.”

  THREE

  Abdul Tanjung didn’t want to wait on the boat while the others took control of the oil tanker, but he was the newest member of this cell of the terrorist group Indo Jihad, so he was left to ensure the boat was ready for their escape before security forces arrived. Now that the Dahar had come to a stop, there wasn’t much for him to do but keep watch for any crew member who might attempt to escape by climbing down the ladder.

  Tanjung had fought for the Islamic State in Syria and returned to Indonesia to help install a caliphate in his home country. With his connections in ISIS, it wasn’t hard to find like-minded comrades in Jakarta. Their first mission appeared to be a complete success, and a second one planned for Bali would convince their enemies that the influence of the hated Americans was at an end in Southeas
t Asia.

  Sinking a Kuwaiti oil tanker headed to the United States and causing a massive environmental catastrophe would strike fear into every government in the region. Encouraged by the tanker’s sinking and the Bali operation, more jihadists would flock to their cause, and they would carry out even more headline grabbing attacks until the secular regimes were reduced to shambles.

  Tanjung listened eagerly to the reports coming over the walkie-talkie and cheered at every small victory.

  “We have all the crew accounted for,” said Commander Kersen. “Bring them to the mess hall. Tanjung, what is your status?”

  “Maintaining my position beside the ship. No activity out here.”

  “Good. We will lock the crew in the mess hall while we plant the bombs. When we’re done, we’ll bring them down to you.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  They had three bombs, which had to be placed carefully to sink a ship of this size, and they had to be detonated before the Coast Guard or defense forces could get there, presuming the Dahar had used the SSAS. Based on what they knew of response times from previous hijackings in the area, they had an hour to evacuate the ship and make a dash back to their shore base.

  With the crew in custody, Tanjung could relax. He set down his assault rifle and sat on the deck to enjoy a well-deserved bag of klepons rice balls that his mother had made for him and his comrades. The sugary snack was covered in coconut shavings, and he brushed his fingers on his pants as he watched a cargo ship in the distance behind them.

  Tanjung thought his eyes must be playing tricks on him because it appeared that the large freighter was racing toward them at an amazing speed. Every time he looked away and then back at the ship, it seemed closer.

  He shrugged. It didn’t really matter. A ship that size couldn’t be doing more than twenty kilometers per hour. They would be long gone with the hostages before it got anywhere close to them. Not that a civilian cargo ship could threaten them anyway.