Marauder

by Clive Cussler

  “Is this the couple?”

  Parsons’ face darkened when he saw them. “One hundred percent. Who are they?”

  “The sister of our injured crewman had an encounter with them that was even worse than yours. It took a while to run them through every photographic database we could find, but we finally spotted them in the records of the Australian prison system. Their names are Angus Polk and April Jin.”

  “They’re convicts?”

  Juan nodded. “Married to each other and released over a year ago. Polk is a former police detective, and Jin is a former Royal Australian Navy officer. They were convicted of embezzlement and fraud. They were also investigated for the murder of two people who discovered their scheme, but there wasn’t enough evidence to make those charges stick.”

  “So why are they operating a factory way out here in the middle of nowhere?”

  “We don’t know for sure, but we think it’s related to the incident in Port Cook. It’s looking more like it was an attack than an accident.”

  Parsons nodded. “I heard that six hundred–plus people were paralyzed. You mean, I might have been a party to that?”

  “Yes. Unwittingly.”

  Raven pulled the RHIB into the boat garage, where Julia was waiting with a medical kit.

  “I’m Doctor Huxley, Chief Parsons,” she said as he stepped onto the loading platform. “Let me take a look at that hand.”

  “I appreciate it,” he said mechanically, still frowning over his innocent role in Polk and Jin’s plans.

  While everyone else exited the RHIB and the hull plate closed behind them, Julia removed the blood-soaked bandage and examined the wound.

  “It looks like a through and through,” she said. “It hit the fleshy part of his hand and missed the tendons. We’ll get you to the sick bay and patch you up.”

  “Wait,” Parsons said to her and turned to Juan. “If you’re going after them, I want in. I know a lot of people in Australia who might be helpful, and you’ve seen that I’ve got some skills of my own. Just tell me what I can do.”

  “I may take you up on that,” Juan said. “The most important thing is finding the last ship they were loading. You said it was called the Shepparton?”

  Parsons nodded. “It took them two days to load it. Dozens of truckloads of cargo.”

  “Do you know its destination?”

  “I have no idea. I wish I did.”

  “All right. We’ll find her.”

  “What do you think this is all about?”

  Juan shook his head. “Now I’m the one with no idea. But rest assured that we won’t stop until we find out.”

  Julia escorted Parsons to the infirmary, and Juan called Max as he left the boat garage.

  “I’m going to my cabin to shower and change,” Juan said, “then I’ll join you in the op center. Have you found the Shepparton?”

  “She’s listed on the Vesseltracker website as heading toward Jakarta, though her port of origin is listed as Brisbane, not Nhulunbuy. Right now her transponder has her due north of Darwin.”

  “They must have tampered with her records. I’m guessing Polk and Jin will try to divert the ship now that they know someone is onto them. The best way to stop them is to intercept the Shepparton and seize her cargo. How far away is she?”

  “If she keeps loafing along, we can catch her in twelve hours.”

  “That puts us there in the middle of the night,” Juan said. “Perfect. Set a course at maximum speed. I’ll tell Eddie to let the team know they should get some food and sleep before we suit up again. Looks like we’ve got another mission tonight.”

  THIRTY-FOUR

  The Oregon’s spacious board room gave Sylvia Chang and Eric Stone plenty of room to spread out printouts and work on their laptops. A giant screen on the wall showed a view of the sunset so crisp that it looked like a picture window. This morning it had given her a front row seat to the sinking of the Marsh Flyer. Now she and Eric were working together to decipher the computer files brought back by Eddie Seng.

  “I’m just glad to know everybody is now sure that I’m not crazy,” she said.

  “Why would anyone think you were crazy?” said Eric, who was sitting next to her.

  “I had no proof of what happened until Bob Parsons made my story plausible. I was beginning to wonder myself if I had hallucinated the whole trimaran attack.”

  “I never doubted you. You’re too smart and resourceful to make up something like that. I’m still in awe of how you survived the sinking of your ship. That was a long swim, and then you immediately started taking care of everyone else on the Empiric. It’s pretty inspiring.”

  Sylvia put her hand on Eric’s. “That’s sweet of you. I’m glad I’ve gotten to know you over the last few days. This has been hard on Mark, but it’s comforting to know he has you as a friend here on the ship.”

  Eric looked down and turned red, but he didn’t take his hand away. “And I’m happy you’re here for him. Besides, without you I wouldn’t have decrypted nearly as many files as we already have.”

  “At least we may have found something to help him.”

  “I know he hates being locked to that chair. I’ve already promised to help him set up his skate park on deck when he’s recovered.”

  “He skateboards here?”

  Eric nodded. “I even got him a new board for Christmas, but it seems like a bad idea to give it to him now.”

  Sylvia squeezed his hand. “I bet he’ll love it. It’ll give him some hope.”

  The door to the boardroom opened, and Julia walked in followed by Murph in his wheelchair. Eric snatched his hand out from under Sylvia’s.

  “How did the checkup go?” she asked.

  “No change,” Julia said. “His condition seems stable.”

  “Stable meaning still stinks,” Murph said through his voice box. “What are you two doing?”

  “We’re just working on the download from the swamp factory,” Eric babbled nervously. “Nothing different. Why would we be doing anything else? The only reason I’m sitting here is because it’s easier if we’re close. That is, we can see each other’s screens. Otherwise, I’d be sitting over there.”

  “Jeez, what’s your problem?” Murph said. “I only meant what’s the latest?”

  “I heard you had some new information for me,” Julia said, taking a seat.

  “We haven’t decrypted everything yet,” Sylvia said. “It’s kind of a mess because even some of the files that got downloaded are partially overwritten.”

  “But we have found something that might be useful regarding the paralyzing gas,” Eric said. “It’s called Enervum, and it’s made from jellyfish venom.”

  “We even know what species of jellyfish,” Sylvia said. “Chironex welleri. It’s a rare type of sea wasp that normally lives deep in the ocean, but it sometimes rises to the surface to breed.”

  “Since they’re mainly found in the open sea, they’re not usually dangerous to humans. But we found an article about a storm in Indonesia twenty-three years ago when thousands of them washed up on a remote island. A fishing crew was discovered there a week after the gale. All six were dead from dehydration.”

  “From dehydration?” Julia said. “Not from the venom?”

  “No stingers were found embedded in their skin,” Sylvia said. “It was a mystery why they died.”

  “Apparently, the wasps emit a gas when they rot,” Eric said. “It has a paralytic effect.”

  “How horrible,” Julia said.

  “So the fishermen laid there, unable to move, until they died of thirst,” Murph said.

  “It seems like it,” Sylvia said. “The Enervum seems to be a weaponized version of that gas. But we do have good news.”

  “You could have started with that,” Murph said. The voice box didn’t accurately conv
ey the snark that Sylvia knew was there.

  “There’s an antidote,” Sylvia said. “We found extensive documentation of the testing they did with it.”

  Julia sat up at that. “Do you have the formula?”

  Eric nodded and handed her several pages of printouts.

  She quickly scanned them.

  After a long pause, Murph asked, “So can you make it?”

  “I could if this formula were complete,” Julia said. “I have everything I need to replicate the process, except for a single chemical ingredient. Here it’s simply called nuxoleum.”

  “Nuxoleum?” Eric said. “It sounds like a brand of engine grease.”

  “If my Latin is correct, that means ‘nut oil.’ I need to know what kind of nut, and I need enough of it to make the antidote for the six hundred people who’ve been afflicted.”

  “There’s no description of it in the files we’ve found so far,” Eric said.

  “We’re still looking, though,” Sylvia said. “I’m sure we’ll find something helpful.”

  Julia stood. “I’ll get back to the infirmary and start setting up a production system. I want to be ready to crank out the antidote once we have a supply of this mystery nut.”

  Eric got up abruptly. “I’ll go with you. I’ve got some more info to help with your setup. It’s easier just to show you.”

  He gave a slight nod to Sylvia and left with the doctor.

  “He’s acting weird,” Murph said.

  “I think he’s nice,” Sylvia said.

  “What do you mean nice?”

  “I don’t meet a lot of cute young intellectuals in my line of work.”

  Murph glared at her. “You do know he’s my best friend.”

  “And an adult. So am I.”

  “You’re my little sister.”

  “And your point is?”

  Murph sighed. “I thought this situation couldn’t get any worse.”

  “I’m not saying I’m going to do anything with him, but if I did . . .”

  “La-la-la-la-la-la, I am not listening. Please put my hands over my ears.”

  “Relax. I won’t tell you if anything happens. Deal?”

  “I think I’ll have a talk with Eric.”

  “You’ll do no such thing. If it’s that big of a problem, let me know now.”

  “Fine,” he said after hesitating. “But I don’t want to know a thing. Now, let me help decipher the rest of the data. You know I can still help.”

  “I welcome it.”

  Sylvia didn’t mention the real reason Eric was acting strangely when he hurried off with Julia. He had to tell the doctor one other troubling piece of information he and Sylvia discovered, a fact that they didn’t dare share with her brother.

  According to the experimental research in the files, if they didn’t inject Murph with a dose of the antidote within a week, his condition would become permanent.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  THE TIMOR SEA

  As Linda piloted the Gator toward the Shepparton, Juan glanced at his watch. It was just after midnight.

  “Merry Christmas, everybody,” he said.

  Eddie, Linc, MacD, and Raven repeated the sentiment, and the response was genuine, if a bit halfhearted. This was not the Christmas Juan had envisioned for his crew. They should have been away with their families instead of in the middle of the ocean about to silently infiltrate another ship. Still, all of them were pros. They knew the stakes.

  For now, the best thing they could do was to seize the shipment of Enervum. At least they would be able to prevent the same thing from happening to anyone else. Raven had insisted on being part of the assault time, convincing Juan with a steady gaze that she was ready to return to action. He only relented after quietly checking with Doc Huxley.

  The semi-submersible matched the speed of the slow-moving freighter and pulled alongside. As with the boarding of the Dahar, all of them were equipped with tranquilizer dart pistols. It was important to capture the crew unharmed so they could be questioned. Juan hoped it would lead to Jin and Polk as well as the antidote they needed for Murph and the rest of the nerve gas victims.

  Juan opened the hatch and went up on the Gator’s flat deck. He wasn’t worried about being seen. In the darkness, no one would be able to spot them even if they looked straight down from the railing above.

  Linc handed up a special device that Max had created for ship-in-motion assaults. It was a carbon fiber telescoping ladder, very lightweight but incredibly strong. He extended it until the top was even with the ship’s deck and activated the heavy-duty magnets on the top rung. It latched on to the steel hull, securing it in place.

  Juan started climbing. When he got to the railing, he looked over the top and didn’t see anyone. He pulled himself over and ran to the shelter of the nearest crane.

  While he waited for the others to join him, he scanned the deck of the Shepparton, a break bulk freighter similar in size and layout to the Oregon, except the Shepparton’s cranes were on the side of the ship instead of along the centerline. Unlike a containership, the bulk carrier’s cargo was carried below deck, protected from the elements. Once they had the ship stopped, they would be able to search the cargo bays thoroughly for the gas.

  When they were assembled, Juan sent Linc and Eddie to secure the engineering compartments while the rest of them went for the crew areas.

  With MacD and Raven’s help, it didn’t take long to dart the crew sleeping in their quarters. They went up to the bridge and found two men on the night watch, tranquilizing both of them and tying them up. When Eddie and Linc called to say that the engine room crew was subdued, Juan told them to head to the nearest cargo bay and check it out while he took MacD and Raven to the captain’s cabin.

  He darted the captain in his bed before he even knew that anyone was inside. Juan flipped on the light to see a white man in his forties flailing about on his bunk as the drug coursed through his blood.

  While MacD and Raven stood behind him, Juan took a seat at the captain’s desk.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  “Raymond Wilbanks,” the captain said with a slurred Aussie accent. The truth serum had already taken hold.

  “Do you know the real contents of what’s in your cargo hold?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Are you in on Polk and Jin’s plan or are you just a mule for them?”

  “Who?”

  “Parsons did tell us that Polk used a fake identity,” Raven interjected.

  “The people who hired you,” Juan said. “They probably didn’t use their real names.”

  “I don’t understand,” Wilbanks said.

  “I’ll make this simpler for you. What cargo did you bring on board in Nhulunbuy?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Is this the dumbest ship captain we’ve ever met,” MacD said, “or is he more loopy from the tranq than he should be?”

  Juan shook his head. “Something is wrong. Wilbanks, you were in Nhulunbuy two days ago, yes or no?”

  “No,” Wilbanks said.

  MacD frowned. “That doesn’t make a lick of sense.”

  “Is he lying?” Raven asked.

  “He can’t,” Juan said. “Not with this drug.”

  “Then why is he giving us such screwy answers?” MacD asked.

  “Maybe he hasn’t understood because I’ve been asking the questions with the wrong assumption.” Juan turned to the captain. “What is currently in your cargo bays?”

  “Nothing. They’re empty.”

  “What is your port of origin?”

  “Brisbane, Australia.”

  “Why are you going to Jakarta?”

  “To pick up a load of lumber to bring back to Australia.”

  “That matches the online manifest,
” Raven said.

  Eddie called on the comm system.

  “Chairman, Linc and I are down here in cargo bay five. It’s as bare as a bachelor’s refrigerator.”

  “Check the others to make sure,” Juan said, “but I think you’ll find the same thing.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  “What’s going on here?” MacD asked. “The Nhulunbuy harbormaster confirmed that the Shepparton was docked there.”

  “And when we approached this ship, Parsons said it looked like the one he’d seen in Nhulunbuy,” Raven said. “Do you think they unloaded the cargo en route?”

  Juan shook his head. “Transferring cargo from ship to ship in the middle of the ocean is a delicate process that would take a significant amount of time. They would never have gotten this far if they’d stopped on the way.”

  “Besides, Wilbanks here would have spilled his guts about it,” MacD said. “You didn’t transfer cargo at sea, did you, Captain?”

  “No,” Wilbanks said.

  Raven sighed. “Then there’s only one other possibility.”

  “The freighter in Nhulunbuy wasn’t the Shepparton,” Juan said as he stood, banging his hand on the desk in frustration. “We’ve got the wrong ship.”

  THIRTY-SIX

  THE CORAL SEA

  Five hours after leaving Nhulunbuy, Captain Gabriel Rathman had the name Shepparton painted over and replaced with the ship’s true name, Centaurus. The need for secrecy had been made abundantly clear by April Jin, backed up by the million-dollar paycheck he was getting for transporting this shipment.

  He didn’t know what cargo he was carrying, and he didn’t want to know. All he had to do was bring it to Sydney in time for New Year’s Eve. If he was late, he would forfeit his fee. The storm and heavy seas they were plowing through right now were threatening the schedule, but Rathman planned to make his date no matter how big the waves got.

  Lu Yang had hired him for this job more than a year ago, even going so far as to supply him with a Chinese crew that was to follow his orders to the letter, though by the weapons they were armed with, they seemed there primarily for security.