by Jake Bible
“Even out the weight!” Bobby yelled into the com as Shane swung around to help Max into the cabin.
The brothers took opposite sides, distributing their weight so the helo didn’t list to one side. Kinsey jumped up and crawled in, then helped her father after her.
“Go!” Thorne shouted. “Go, go, go!”
Bobby took the Wyrm up and out of the compound as Shane and Max joined Lucy in sending round after round back at the hostiles. In seconds, Bobby cleared the closest building and put some distance between the Wyrm and the hostiles that were still firing.
“Time to get my boy and Darby,” Bobby announced as she took the Wyrm higher above the city. “Darren? Come in. Darren?”
Thorne couldn’t help but notice how the “my boy” comment rankled Kinsey.
“We don’t have com with Darren and Darby,” Bobby said. “Command? Are their coms down?”
“Coms are active,” Mr. Ballantine responded, “they’ve switched channels.”
“Switched channels?” Thorne asked. “What channel are they on?”
Mr. Ballantine didn’t respond.
“Command?” Thorne asked again. “I repeat, what channel did they switch to?”
“Just be ready to grab them,” Mr. Ballantine replied. “Don’t worry about their com right now.”
“What the fuck?” Shane said.
“You know, we really need call signs,” Max said.
***
“Captain Chambers,” Mr. Ballantine announced over the com. “Your ride is on the way.”
Darren had just finished disassembling the third desktop and yanked the hard drive, stuffing it in his pack as Darby kept watch over the homeowners.
“Almost ready,” Darren said.
“Just a heads up, Captain, they are not happy you and Darby are on a different channel,” Mr. Ballantine said.
“And how did they find out?” Darren asked as he double checked the work bench the desktops had been sitting upon.
“I may have let it slip,” Mr. Ballantine said. “I couldn’t lie to them. They’ll find out soon enough why.”
The family that huddled against the wall watched Darby closely, their eyes focused on the barrel of her M-4. She showed zero emotion, keeping her face a blank slate. The father looked past Darby at Darren.
“How did you find me?” the man asked. “I wiped that iPhone.”
“Don’t know anything about an iPhone,” Darren said. “Tracked your IP address from the YouTube video despite the proxies you have set up.”
“YouTube?” the man asked. “What YouTube?” He looked over at his wife and children. One of his boys would not meet his eyes. “What did you do? What did you upload?”
“The whale,” the boy whispered.
“No,” the man shook his head, “how could you be so stupid? Do you know where that video came from?”
“I’d like to know where it came from?” Darren said. The man went silent. “And that’s why we are taking your hard drives.”
“Helo inbound,” Darby said as she cocked her head. “One minute.”
“Where was the video taken?” Darren asked as he secured his pack and pulled his pistol. “Can you tell me the coordinates?”
“The coordinates?” the man asked, watching the pistol carefully. “I do not know.”
“Are you sure?” Darren asked, turning the pistol on the man’s children. “I’m not asking again.”
“I do not know,” the man said, his face a mixture of fear and anger. “I would tell you if I did! But I cannot tell you what I do not know!”
Darby glanced at Darren, then at the pistol.
“Fine,” Darren said, holstering the weapon. “Thought I’d try. I’ll be able to get the coordinates off the geotag on the video.”
The hut shook as the Wyrm hovered close by.
“Time to go,” Darby said.
“Thank you, folks,” Darren said, “it’s been a pleasure.”
Darren opened the door and Darby was right behind him, keeping her rifle trained on the family until they were out of the hut and the door was closed. She turned to follow Darren as he sprinted down the street to an open crossroads big enough for the Wyrm to come down low.
“You have some serious explaining to do,” Thorne said as Darren hopped into the Wyrm.
“I know,” Darren said then looked about the cabin. “Where are the hostages?”
“Dead,” Kinsey answered, “all of them. They knew we were coming.”
“A leak?” Darren asked, voicing a concern they were all considering.
“Maybe,” Thorne said, “or they suspected a rescue and killed the hostages to set an example.”
“Did we miss a ransom deadline?” Max asked.
“We missed two,” Mr. Ballantine said over the com. “We thought they were bluffing. The hostages are no good to them dead.”
“They’re no good to us dead,” Thorne replied. “Daacad just proved he will go all the way if pushed. Those corpses are now worth millions to him. He just invested in death.”
The Team let that sink in for a minute. Mr. Ballantine didn’t respond.
“Find what you needed?” Kinsey asked Darren.
“I did,” Darren replied.
“Care to share with the rest of us?” Shane asked.
“Later,” Darren said, “not yet.”
“Whale,” Max said.
“Whale,” Shane agreed, smirking.
“Leave my boy alone,” Bobby said as the Wyrm passed over the last building and headed out over the water towards the Beowulf II. “Let him have his whale.”
“Your boy,” Thorne said, “broke protocol and changed com channels. He can have his whale, but not at the expense of the mission.”
“It didn’t compromise the mission,” Darren said, “and you’ll get all the info back on the ship, once I’ve had a chance to go over it.”
“I say we toss him out of the helo,” Max said. “Make him swim back as punishment.”
Shane leaned over and looked out the door at the dark water that passed below them. “I’m cool with that.”
“Funny,” Darren said, “but I’m not just the Team Leader, I’m the captain of the ship. That’s mutiny and sedition.” He matched Shane’s smirk. “Just kidding.”
“Better be,” Thorne said, “because I’m Team Leader. Your com stunt proved that. Anyone disagree?”
“I say cage fight decides,” Max said.
“Two douches enter,” Shane laughed, “one douche leaves.”
“So you two will be doing the fighting then?” Kinsey smiled.
“Good one,” Lucy laughed and offered a high five which Kinsey obliged.
“Thorne is Team Leader,” Mr. Ballantine said over the com. “The money decides.”
“One financier enters,” Max said, “everyone shuts the fuck up.”
“ETA ten minutes,” Bobby said.
“Too bad the op failed,” Lucy said.
“Did it?” Darby asked then leaned back and closed her eyes, letting everyone know she didn’t expect an answer.
***
Daacad stood on the beach, a cigarette in his hand, as he watched the Wyrm disappear across the water. His phone rang and he answered casually, seemingly unconcerned about the night’s events.
“Yes?” he answered.
“They took all the drives,” the caller said, “like your source said they would. I will have their ship’s location shortly.”
“Excellent, Kowtame,” Daacad replied, “you did right by telling me Tarabi brought you the phone. I won’t forget that.”
“Tarabi never came to get the phone,” Kowtame said.
“No, he didn’t,” Daacad said, “it is yours. He won’t be needing it.”
“Oh,” Kowtame responded quietly, “thank you, Daacad.”
“What are friends for?” he asked as he hung up.
He slid his phone into his pocket, took a drag on the cigarette, then turned and walked back towards the city. He had anoth
er son to say goodbye to. At least there was a whole body to bury and not just an arm.
Before he reached his compound, he pulled out a different phone and sent a text message. He tossed the butt of his cigarette away and joined the bloody chaos that his compound had become.
***
The whine of the Wyrm’s rotors died down as Team Grendel made their way to the briefing room to report. While they would have rather dumped their gear and grabbed some chow and showers, Thorne wanted them to debrief immediately. He was pretty fired up over the failure of the mission, and he planned on speaking his mind to Mr. Ballantine and the rest of the company folks.
“Congratulations, Commander,” Mr. Ballantine said as he came into the briefing room with Perry, Horace, and Longbottom in tow. “That was a great success.”
“A what?” Thorne snapped. “A success? Are you out of your mind?”
“No, no,” Max said, “he’s out of his fucking mind. Use the proper terminology, Uncle Vinny.”
“They were all dead,” Kinsey snarled, “they’d been dead for a couple of days, by my guess.”
“By the smell,” Shane said. “Kind of a waste of a mission.”
“On the contrary,” Mr. Ballantine said as he gestured for everyone to take a seat.
They looked to Thorne and he nodded for them to sit. They all did, except for Darren, who was busy emptying his pack onto the table. The company folks all sat at one end by Mr. Ballantine, while Team Grendel, including Darby, sat at the other end. Kinsey didn’t let the look Ballantine gave Darby slip her attention.
“We had a feeling the hostages were already dead,” Mr. Ballantine said. “A source alerted us to this a few days ago. We never believed Daacad would uphold his end of the bargain if we paid him. According to our source, he wanted to kill the hostages as a warning to every shipping company out there. The man means business and any hesitancy will result in deaths.”
“Then why send us?” Thorne asked as he tried to keep from exploding and rushing Ballantine. “Any one of us could have lost our lives.”
“Came close a few times,” Max said.
“Did it?” Mr. Ballantine said. “The video and audio we received from your NVGs told a different story. What I saw was a brand new Team on its first mission acting like a well-oiled machine. That was the real reason for the mission. I needed to see if you could be effective.”
“We needed to see that,” Ms. Horace said, nodding towards her colleagues. “Mr. Ballantine has showed us that an extraction Team on the payroll can be highly beneficial.”
“Even with all of the expenses,” Mr. Perry added, “Team Grendel is still cheaper than paying ransom every time a crew is taken hostage.”
“And knowing you are out here could deter future attacks,” Mr. Longbottom said, “and will help with the insurance underwriters.”
“This really was an audition,” Thorne said, shaking his head, “you didn’t expect us to succeed at all.”
“It would have been nice if you had,” Mr. Ballantine responded, “but we didn’t think that was likely. Our source assured us the crew was already dead.”
“Then why keep them chained up?” Max asked. “Why didn’t Daacad dispose of the bodies?”
“Like I said before,” Mr. Ballantine replied, “he wanted to send a warning.”
“Then he knew we were coming,” Shane replied.
“You specifically?” Mr. Ballantine said. “No. But he suspected we would try something. We left hints for him to figure out. Little strategic breadcrumbs that would give him the impression that he would be raided.”
“Did you leave hints before or after the hostages were killed?” Kinsey asked. “If it was before, then you killed those men, not Daacad. He saw an opportunity you dangled in front of him and he took it.”
“That is possible,” Mr. Ballantine said, “but highly unlikely. Something happened when they took the crew hostage. Something that changed Daacad’s mind on how he would proceed. Darren?”
Darren had been busy with the hard drives, connecting them to a terminal in the corner of the briefing room. He looked up as his name was called and nodded.
“I have it here,” Darren said, “it was on the first drive.”
He typed a few commands and a large monitor flipped down from the ceiling. The video of the giant whale breaching started, and everyone instantly saw it was raw footage and not the YouTube video that had been circulating on the various social networking sites.
“That’s that crazy whale video!” Max said. “I told you this was all about a whale.”
“Not quite,” Mr. Ballantine said, “this is about securing the seas for our clients and also having an extraction Team in place for when the seas are not secure enough. And trust me, they are not secure.”
“And that is a whale there, yes,” Darren said, “but it’s nothing like anyone has ever seen. That whale shouldn’t exist.”
The video kept playing and went longer than what had been edited and uploaded on YouTube. They heard young Abshir yelling to his shipmate, then they saw the whale breach again. And the chunk bitten out of its tail. All hell broke loose and no one could figure out what was happening as the camera was jostled every which way.
Mr. Ballantine leaned forward, his eyes studying the screen. A large smile crept across his face.
“What the fuck was that?” Shane asked.
“A whale did that?” Max asked.
“No, didn’t you see the whale’s tail?” Lucy said. “Something got it.”
“Yes, something did,” Mr. Ballantine replied, “and what that something is, is our next mission.”
“Mr. Ballantine,” Ms. Horace said, “that was not what was agreed upon.”
“You were to demonstrate the Team’s effectiveness and then proceed with Mr. Chambers’ scientific mission of finding the whale,” Mr. Perry said.
“Any deviation from the original plan makes me very nervous, Mr. Ballantine,” Mr. Longbottom said. “That looks like danger, not research. Danger can be very expensive.”
Thorne looked at his Team and frowned.
“Anyone care to tell me what is going on?” Thorne said. “And tell us all of it, not this need to know bullshit.”
“I’ll tell you, Commander Thorne,” Ms. Horace said. “Mr. Ballantine proposed a permanent extraction Team be part of the services we offered as a company. He was very persuasive. But part of his proposal was to hire Captain Chambers and Captain Chambers would only take the job if he could continue his research.”
“Why Ditcher?” Max asked. “I mean, why Captain Chambers, specifically?”
“Like I said, Mr. Ballantine was very persuasive,” Ms. Horace said. “He said a research vessel would be the perfect cover for an extraction Team. And Captain Chambers had gained a certain reputation that kept him off the private security, and also the oceanic research communities’ radar. Also, any profits that could be made would go to the company.”
“Don’t remember that part,” Darren frowned, eyeing Mr. Ballantine.
“You can’t expect the company to foot the bill and not get some recompense, can you?” Mr. Perry smiled. “Which is why the change in direction of the research is troubling, Mr. Ballantine. And I am sure I speak for my colleagues when I say I am unsure what exactly that change is.”
“How about we all get a good night’s sleep and talk about this in the morning?” Mr. Ballantine proposed, holding up his hand before anyone could respond. “That will give me more time to go over the video and offer some surprising details. This change could be way better than a whale.”
“Well, just as good, at least,” Darren said.
“Yes, of course,” Mr. Ballantine nodded. His smile betrayed the fact that he didn’t quite believe that.
“Fine,” Thorne said as he stood up, “I’ll let you bureaucrats duke this out. I’m exhausted. You want to give us a slide show in the morning about big fish? Great. I’m going to bed.”
Team Grendel all stood, grabbed their gear
, and left. Kinsey looked back and saw the look of worry on Darren’s face. He obviously had gotten a little more than he bargained for. She couldn’t help but smile.
Good, she thought. Let him sweat it for a while.
***
“Hey,” Thorne said to Kinsey as she was about to close the hatch on her quarters, “good job tonight.”
“Thanks,” she said.
“I mean that, Kins,” Thorne said, “you performed like a true professional. You would have made a great SEAL. I’m sorry someone felt a woman shouldn’t be included. If I ever find out who tampered with your blood work, I’ll gut them myself.”
“So tonight I proved myself, but during BUD/S and SQT, I didn’t?” Kinsey asked, instantly on the defensive. “Good to know you had my back.”
“Hey!” Thorne shouted. “I resigned because of what happened to you!”
“No, Dad, you resigned because it would have looked bad if you didn’t,” Kinsey said. “If another woman that wasn’t your daughter had the same thing happen to her, you wouldn’t have resigned. I was your daughter, you felt the duty to protest, and you did. Don’t dress it up as something it wasn’t.”
Thorne started to respond then closed his mouth and shook his head. He turned away, turned back, then turned away again and walked down the hall to his quarters.
“You know what?” he said, stopping after a few feet. “You’re probably right. But that doesn’t detract from the fact that you did a great job tonight. That can’t be denied or debated. Goodnight, Kinsey.”
He rounded the corner, leaving Kinsey standing in the hatchway of her quarters. She almost thought of going after him to apologize, but didn’t, and shut the hatch instead. She was beyond exhausted and needed some sleep before she messed things up more than they were.
She began to get undressed when there was a knock at the hatch.
“Hold on,” she said as she threw on a robe that had been provided along with some towels and toiletries. She opened the hatch, thinking she would be giving that apology after all. “Dad, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean---, Oh.”
“Uh-oh,” Gunnar said, “what did I miss?”
“Just daddy/daughter stuff,” Kinsey smiled. She saw the small black case in Gunnar’s hand and frowned. “You think I need that? The op is over. I can probably detox like a normal addict now.”
