“Ah’m tough, but torture can break anyone. No, it’s just that Ah went to Ranger school, and Ah know that someone who is tortured will say just about anything to get it to stop. You can’t be sure it’s the truth.”
“I’m willing to try.”
“What Ah’m sayin’ is, Ah’m happy to tell you what you want to know. MacD Lawless is my name, and Ah work for an organization called the Corporation.”
Polk chuckled at that. “Can you be more specific?”
“No. That’s our name. It’s intentionally vague because we’re mercenaries.”
“You don’t work for the U.S. government?”
“We work for anyone who pays us.”
“Then who’s paying you to interfere with our operation?”
Here’s where MacD had to be careful. A good lie was always close to the truth, and he was about to spin a whopper.
“Interfere with it? We want you to succeed.”
“What are you talking about? You’ve been fighting with us for days. The factory at Nhulunbuy, the battle between the Marauder and the Norego, Christmas Island.”
“It all comes back to Lu Yang.”
Polk narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Lu was an arms dealer, among other things. You’ve got the Enervum gas courtesy of Lu. Am Ah right?”
“So?”
“So we were hired by one of his competitors to find the formula so y’all didn’t have exclusivity on that little weapon.”
“But you said you wanted us to succeed.”
“When we found out that there was an antidote, we thought that might be more valuable than the weapon. So we’ve been trying to develop it ever since. And if you carry out more attacks, it makes the antidote worth even more.”
Polk looked dubious. “So you’ve been searching for the antidote to sell it?”
“Of course. We do this for money.”
“How do I know you don’t work for the authorities?”
MacD let out an exasperated sigh. “Have you seen any military or police forces in any of our dustups? We want to stay clear of them as much as you do.”
Polk hesitated as he thought about MacD’s story. “I’m not convinced. Give me something valuable.”
“All right,” MacD said. “You’ve seen our ship, right? What do you want to know about the Norego?”
“What weapons does it have?”
MacD started with the items he knew April Jin had seen in combat. “Anti-aircraft laser, Kashtan Gatling guns, counter-illuminative paint.” Then he added items from the previous version of the Oregon. “A 120mm cannon, torpedoes, surface-to-surface missiles. She’s not just a spy ship. She’s a warship.”
“Built by the Americans.”
“Not at all. Built for us at a Vladivostok naval base under Admiral Yuri Borodin. Unfortunately, Borodin is currently dead, so you can’t fact-check that with him.”
Which was all true, but not for the version of the Oregon that Jin had fought against. It was the previous ship that had been constructed in Russia.
“What do you know about our operation?” Polk asked.
“We know you have a lot of that gas. We beat that info out of Bob Parsons.”
“How did you know about the factory?”
“We’ve got some good tech people. They traced Alloy Bauxite back to Lu.”
“Do you know anything about our future plans?”
MacD shrugged. “Ah don’t know your target. Ah’m just a grunt. They don’t tell me everything.”
“If you don’t have the antidote, then why do you want our operation to succeed?”
“Because we do have the formula for the antidote. That makes it worth something on the black market. Ah’m sure my boss would be willing to make a business deal with you. You do whatever you’re doing, then we connect you with the right people and get a commission on the sale. He might even be willing to help you get your mission done for the right price.”
“How do I get in touch with him?”
“Get me wherever we’re going, stitch me up, give me a hot meal, and then Ah’ll tell you who to call.”
“Give me a name.”
“Ah can’t do that. You can call him Chairman.”
“And if he won’t make a deal?” Polk asked.
“Ah wouldn’t be telling you all this if Ah didn’t think he’d be interested,” MacD said, knowing how much was riding on Polk believing this tale. “If Ah’m wrong, you won’t have any more use for me.”
Polk nodded. “That is the only thing you’ve said that I know for sure.”
FIFTY-SIX
The fire and dead bodies caused quite a stir on Christmas Island, but Renee LaBelle was able to convince the authorities that Juan and his team were friends of hers, and their arrival just before the chaos was purely coincidental. Given that the corpses seemed to be Chinese nationals and that their jet had taken off without permission after leaving a vehicle on the runway, the local police had their hands full taking the investigation of the event in other directions.
Inside the airport, Juan said good-bye to Renee and Bob Parsons. The rest of the team had made it back in the Mercedes and were waiting for him on the tiltrotor.
“Thanks for all your help,” Juan said to Parsons. “You sure you don’t want a ride somewhere?”
Parsons looked at Renee, then shook his head. “I’ve got a bit of catching up to do here. Besides, I don’t have anywhere else to go at present.”
“We’ll keep looking for more of the Rand’s palm trees,” Renee said. “It’s rare, but if we find any that are nut-bearing, we know how to get in touch.”
“I’m sorry about MacD,” Parsons said. “I hope you get him back.”
“Me, too,” Juan said. “And I’m sorry your island has been damaged.”
“Luckily, it’s not the dry season, so the fire is already out,” Renee said. “The land will recover, as it always does. It’ll make quite the story around here for years to come.”
Juan said his good-byes and watched Renee and Parsons walk toward the parking lot hand in hand.
Juan headed to the tiltrotor, and as soon as he was on board, Gomez took off.
Raven, Linc, and Eddie didn’t look dejected. They were seething.
“It’s my fault they got MacD, Chairman,” Raven said. “I should have seen that guy sneaking up on us.”
“It’s no one’s fault except Polk’s,” Juan said. “Let’s focus on getting MacD back. Polk took him either because he wants info about who we are or he’s going to use MacD as a bargaining chip. That means he’ll keep MacD alive at least a little while.”
“Then we’ll have to act fast.”
“Any idea where they’re taking him?” Eddie asked.
“We’ll know soon enough. When we do, we’ll need to come up with a way to rescue him.”
“What about the antidote?” Linc asked. “All the nuts were burned up in the fire. If that deadline is correct about how quickly the antidote is needed, Murph and the others are running out of time.”
“I think there’s still hope. Jin and Polk had that antidote formula for a reason. Maybe they made some of it for themselves. I suggest you all eat and get some sleep on the flight back to the Oregon. We might be pretty busy between now and New Year’s Eve.”
Juan took a couple of sandwiches from a cooler and went to the cockpit. He handed one to Gomez, who had already set the tiltrotor to autopilot.
“Thanks, Chairman,” Gomez said. “Wish I could have gotten airborne and in that Gulfstream’s way before it took off.”
“It might not have worked anyway. The way Polk has been tearing through every place he goes, there’s no telling what he might have done.”
Juan put on a headset and called Max to fill him on what happened at Christmas Island.
When he was done, Max said, “It’s going to be tough to break it to Murph that we have no antidote.”
“We still might have a chance if we can find Jin and Polk. Since they knew exactly where the trees were, it’s possible they made some antidote for themselves.”
“Then we need to capture one or both of them alive.”
“That’s the plan,” Juan said. “And now we might have a way to find them. Do you have MacD’s tracker?”
“Yes. He’s eastbound over the Timor Sea. He might even pass right over us.”
“We’ll never catch them. That Gulfstream is twice as fast as the tiltrotor. Where are you now?”
“We got a tip that a trimaran passed through the Torres Strait at the northern tip of Queensland, so we kept going in that direction. We’re almost there now, but of course the Marauder is probably long gone. They could be partway across the Pacific, heading down the east coast of Australia, or heading north toward the Philippines.”
“All of their operations have been centered around Australia, so I’d guess they’ll stay in this vicinity.”
“We only have three days until New Year’s Eve,” Max said. “What do you think their target is?”
“That’s the million-dollar question. It’s also another reason we need Jin and Polk alive. If we can capture one of them, we can make them tell us where that Enervum gas is headed and how they intend to use it.”
“It would help if we knew the new name of the Shepparton.”
“I’ve asked Lang to keep his eyes and ears open for any leads on that front.”
Langston Overholt would be able to inform them if any key words providing clues about the cargo ship popped up on any communications networks.
“So we’ve got nothing except MacD’s tracker to go on,” Max said, his frustration evident.
“We do have that satellite number that Linda used to call Jin,” Juan said. “Did you have Eric, Murph, and Sylvia see if they could trace it?”
“They tried but hit a dead end. The signal is routed through a dozen satellites, completely masking where the end user is.”
“Don’t worry,” Juan said. “If I know MacD, he’s talking Polk’s ears off right now with some wild story. Sooner or later, they’ll be calling us.”
FIFTY-SEVEN
MARWOOD ISLAND, QUEENSLAND
As she brought the Marauder into its home port, Jin was glad to finally be back at the base Lu had chosen for the trimaran. Not only would she be able to finish repairs to the plasma cannon they had begun at sea, but she would also be able to see her husband, who had arrived with their prisoner the day before.
Located near the Whitsunday archipelago off the central coast of Queensland, Marwood was home to an abandoned World War II naval base that Lu refurbished when he bought the property. The island was shaped like Mickey Mouse’s head, with a circular harbor where the mouth would be and a narrow opening to the ocean at the chin.
The setting was ideal because of the fair weather year-round and the calm seas protected by the Great Barrier Reef. Although most of the island was mountainous, there was enough space for the restored runway that ran through some high hills on Mickey’s left cheek. One end stopped at the sea, the other near the dock. A cluster of concrete buildings at Mickey’s nose served as the base quarters and facilities. The ears were peaks covered with eucalyptus trees and hoop pines.
The Gulfstream was chocked at the end of the runway, and men on ATVs towed equipment to the dock to complete the repairs on the trimaran.
After she had tied up the Marauder, she asked where she could find Polk. She was directed to the main office building.
He was inside at a desk, looking at a laptop with his back to her. She leaned against the doorway.
“So busy you couldn’t come to greet your own wife on her triumphant return?”
He turned and smiled at the sight of her, bounding over to give her a kiss.
“I was just checking the weather in Sydney for tomorrow night. Hot and dry. Perfect for the operation.”
“Is Rathman in place?”
“The Centaurus is on schedule to arrive this evening.”
“I hope you take some Enervum gas grenades with you this time, just in case.” They’d tested the grenades on the scientists back at the Nhulunbuy factory and found them effective.
“Those definitely would have come in handy at Christmas Island,” Polk said. “I’ll put some on the plane. What do you think Lu’s plan is to get the Australians to ship in a million Chinese so quickly?”
“He’s probably got more triggers set up to react to the news stories of the attack. But that’s someone else’s problem.”
“I wonder how the attacks have impacted Lu’s financial worth.”
“Let’s take a look.”
They’d both memorized the password, but the account number was so long that Polk had to copy it from the notepad app on his phone. He typed the info into the cryptocurrency’s online platform.
“The balance is up to nine hundred and eighty million,” Polk said.
“It might even go up in value after the attack,” Jin said. “People take their money out of the stock market after terrorist incidents and they’ve got to put it somewhere.”
“And if not, we’ve got the antidote in the Gulfstream as a backup.”
“This MacD. Did you find out anything about him?” Jin asked.
“I was able to verify that he really was a U.S. Army Ranger.”
“I want to talk to him before we give his Chairman a call.”
“He’s down in the bomb shelter. I’ll have him brought up.” Polk called for two of their men to retrieve him.
“When do you leave for Sydney?” Jin asked.
“In a few hours,” Polk said. “I wish we were going together.”
“Me, too, but I’ve got to get these repairs done if I’m going to set sail by tonight. I want to be in Sydney Harbour in time to see the fireworks.”
The plan was for Polk to go down and complete the preparations on the Centaurus. After the gas was launched, he would transfer over to the Marauder.
“What about the antidote?” Jin asked.
“I’m not sure whether to believe this guy’s story. It might be better if we split up the doses. I’ll take half with me to the Centaurus, and we’ll put the other half on the Marauder.”
“A sound move.”
Jin turned as a strikingly handsome man with a bloodied bandage on his left shoulder was escorted into the room. She nodded and the two guards sat him forcefully in a chair.
“You must be MacD,” she said.
“The one and only.”
“Your boss has been trying to call me.”
“Ah told your husband that he’d make a deal with you.”
“To leave us alone?”
MacD shook his head. “We’re not mobsters running a protection racket. The Chairman’s got connections all over the world. He can make a market for you.”
“A market for what?”
MacD shrugged. “Plasma weapons, Enervum gas, the antidote you’ve got. Whatever you want to sell.”
“We’ll see about that.”
She took out her satellite phone.
“They blocked their number when I talked to Acting Captain Linda two days ago. How do I call your Chairman?”
MacD told her the number.
“I am going to put this on speaker,” Jin said, eyeing MacD. “If you say one word without my okay, I will kill you. Do you understand?”
“Couldn’t be clearer,” MacD said.
She dialed the number that he gave her.
“Is this April Jin?” a voice answered.
“Yes, it is. Is this the Chairman?”
“Speaking.”
“Your man here, MacD, says you might be interested in a business
proposition.”
“I might be.”
“Before we get started, I don’t do business with anyone if I don’t know their name.”
“Juan Cabrillo, captain of the Norego.”
“Tell me, Juan, why have you been after us?”
“What makes you think we’re after you?”
“Then why do we keep running into each other?”
“You have something we want.”
“The Enervum?” Jin said.
“As well as the antidote. Obviously, we failed to get either.”
“MacD claims you can make a market for our products.”
“They would fetch a high price on the black market,” Cabrillo said. “Of course, they’d be tricky to unload without drawing unwanted attention.”
“That’s an intriguing thought. Listen, we’ve got a busy couple of days ahead of us. Why don’t we circle back in the new year and talk a deal.”
“And my man?”
“We’ll keep him with us. I don’t know how fond you are of him, but it can’t hurt to have a hostage to make sure we’re getting our money’s worth. If you get in our way again, we’ll kill him. Bye-bye.”
She hung up.
“Told you,” MacD said with a smile.
“Don’t get too happy yet,” Polk said. “Captain Cabrillo needs to come through for you to ever get off this island.” He waved for the guards to take MacD back to his cell.
“He’ll come through, all right,” MacD said over his shoulder as he left. “Ah guarantee it.”
FIFTY-EIGHT
Eight hours after Juan got off the phone with Jin, the Oregon approached Marwood Island from the north, MacD’s tracker leading them there. Juan was concerned that the signal would start moving quickly again, indicating he was back on a plane. But it hadn’t left the island. In fact, they were no longer getting a signal at all, which meant he was probably underground or in a shielded room in the group of buildings they’d observed on the satellite image of the old World War II base.
They couldn’t recon the layout of the buildings, and no blueprints existed from that time period, so they needed real time info. From his chair in the op center, Juan watched the main video screen showing the feed from a drone that Gomez was flying low over the trees to avoid detection. It had an oblique view of the harbor.
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