Edge of Tomorrow

by Wolf Wootan

  The limo driver drove Hatch and Syd back to the airport and they again entered the Bell 430. Hatch put on his headset and made contact with Sara once more.

  “Yo, Hatch! We’re back over the ship. What now?”

  “Is there another radio channel I can use to talk to that Koko guy? Different from the one he’s been using to talk to the Greek?” asked Hatch.

  “Hang on, I’ll find one for you.”

  Syd asked Hatch, “What are you doing now?”

  “I need to make a deal with that guy without anyone knowing about it.”

  A minute later, Sara reported in. “Here you go, Hatch.”

  She gave him a frequency he could use, then said, “Do you want me to make the connection and patch you in?”

  “Yes, Sara, that would be great. Let’s see if he will answer on that frequency,” answered Hatch.

  Hatch had put his system on speaker again so Syd could hear what was going on. Syd still wondered how Hatch was going to pull this off. She could hear Sara calling for the ship to answer. Finally, a voice came on the channel and said something in Greek.

  Hatch immediately jumped in and said, “Mr. Koko, do you speak English?”

  There was a slight silence on the channel, then the voice replied in English with a Greek accent, “Yes. Who is this?”

  “My name is Styx. I am your only way out of this mess you’ve created. The British have no intention of paying you anything and, in fact, the SAS will be arriving momentarily. The Greek colonel has been stalling you,” said Hatch.

  “Hah! Do they want a blood bath here?” yelled Koko.

  “They only want their ship back and your head on a pike. They don’t care about collateral damage. You and all of your cohorts will die in that blood bath—that’s a certainty! I, on the other hand, am interested in avoiding such an incident, even though it lets your sorry, cowardly ass get away. I am a private citizen—an American—and I do not want to see any more of my countrymen butchered by you,” continued Hatch.

  “You think you can stop me?” sneered Koko.

  “I’m trying to keep everyone alive here! I’m willing to pay you your ransom if you will not kill anyone else, and get you sorry ass off that ship immediately!”

  Koko thought that over for a long second, wondering if this was a trap. If this guy was for real, he could avoid a shootout with the SAS. He did believe the SAS would be here soon. No harm in hearing the American out.

  “What’s your proposition?”

  “I give you a bag containing $10,000,000 cash in American currency, then you and your slime partners jump in your chopper and disappear,” said Hatch.

  “How do I know this is not a trap? A complete scam?” asked Koko.

  “I guess you don’t, but if I wanted you dead, you already would be. Blondie, do you still see our Mr. Koko?”

  Sara knew Hatch meant her—he just did not want to use her name. “Yes, sir, and the ship’s clock is six inches to the right of the fucker’s masked head.”

  “Take out the clock,” he ordered.

  A .50 caliber slug came through the glass window on the bridge and hit the clock dead center. Koko dived to the floor, the radio transmitter still in his hand.

  “Damn you!” Koko spat into the phone after he got through with a few Greek expletives.

  “It could have been you, Koko! Now do you believe me? I want this over with. You only want money! Let’s get this thing done!” growled Hatch.

  “Where’s your fucking shooter?” snarled Koko.

  “Not important. Do we have a deal?” said Hatch.

  Koko decided he had better grab the money and run. Mr. Styx could have had him killed, but he did not. Not yet.

  “OK. How do I get my money?” Koko asked.

  “I’ll get back to you in five minutes. Get your people ready to leave.”

  Hatch switched to a secure satellite channel and talked to Sara.

  “You heard him agree, Sara?”

  “Yep. It looks like I can drop the bag not too far from their chopper, but I’m afraid anyone watching the ship—like all those TV cameras on the dock—will see the bag drop out of the sky. Not good,” replied Sara.

  Hatch had already thought of that problem.

  “We’ll have the bag appear in a puff of smoke. Presto! Change-o!” replied Hatch with a chuckle. “You have smoke grenades on board, don’t you?”

  Sara laughed and said, “I gotcha! I’ll throw a smoke grenade on the deck, the downdraft from the prop will swirl it all around, and down goes the money bag.”

  “That’s my girl! Go do it, then I’ll tell Koko where it is. Hopefully, he’ll load up and take off. Then, you’ll follow him and get my money and the ship’s stuff back,” said Hatch.

  “What about the assholes?”

  “If they resist, protect yourselves. And remember, they did murder a woman in cold blood today. Don’t take any risks. Tie up any survivors for the authorities to deal with.”

  Sara switched to intercom and told the Shadow-4 crew what the plan was. The pilot, George O’Reilly, took the chopper to 2000 feet and maneuvered it over the spot on the ship that Sara had indicated.

  “How’s the skin, Three?” Sara asked Tim Norton, the Chief Engineer.

  “Everything’s in the green, Major,” he answered.

  “OK, let’s do it! Take her down, One! Three, open the hatch and get some smoke ready,” ordered Sara.

  The bag of money was lashed to the wall right next to the trap door in the floor.

  What happened next amazed all the onlookers on the docks. It was recorded on several TV cameras, but later analysis of the tapes never revealed what really occurred on the ship that day. A large cloud of smoke swirled around the upper deck just aft of the highjackers’ black helicopter. The smoke was whipped around as if a whirlwind had struck the ship. Then it dissipated until only a few whiffs of smoke lingered. Most onlookers wondered what the criminals were up to.

  When Sara told Hatch the money was delivered, he called Koko again. “OK. The money is on board. It’s about fifteen yards aft of your chopper. If you’re smart, you’ll grab it and go. I just heard that the SAS troops have landed. You’re out of time.”

  “How did you deliver any money? Is this a trick?” asked Koko.

  “It’s there! Go, asshole!”

  Koko called his man standing guard near their chopper and was told about the smoke. The man went aft and found the bag and reported the find to Koko.

  He said in Greek, “There’s a bag! Want me to open it?”

  “Yes! Quickly! Watch for booby traps!”

  “Wow! It’s full of money!”

  “OK, put it in the chopper. I’ll call the others. Let’s get out of here!” ordered Koko. “The ship’s bag of loot is already on board.”

  The Shadow-4 crew watched as five men wearing ski masks scurried to board the chopper. They were dragging a woman along with them. She wore a white blouse and blue skirt, so Sara guessed she was part of the ship’s crew.

  “Hatch, they’re taking a hostage with them: a young woman, possibly a crew member,” Sara reported.

  “I suspected they would do that,” he responded. “Insurance against being followed. Did they tell the Greek colonel anything?”

  “Just a sec. Let me check with the translator,” said Sara. Twenty seconds later, she continued, “Yep! Koko told him they were leaving, but if they were followed or attacked, they would throw the woman to her death. Nice fuckers!”

  Hatch said, “Yeah! OK, don’t lose them. I’m going to get airborne in the Triple Eye chopper and follow you, but at a distance. I don’t want to be spotted. I needn’t say this, but if they do throw that woman out, shoot ’em down!”

  “What about the money?”

  “You know better than that. Fuck the money! Just fry ’em!”

  • • •

  The black 240L took off and skimmed the water, heading south. They did not intend to get up into radar coverage. As they sped along at twenty feet a
bove the water at 175 miles-per-hour, Shadow-4 cruised at 3,000 feet, keeping them in sight. Sara had them locked-on to her Fire Control System. They could never outrun Shadow-4, so Sara’s only worry was the fate of the woman hostage. Hatch checked in and said he was ten miles away at 8,000 feet and would stay away for now.

  • • •

  On board the black chopper, Koko and his buddies were laughing and congratulating themselves on a job well done. They had not counted the money in the gray duffel bag yet, but Koko figured even if he had been cheated, he was ahead of the game. He also had all the cash and jewelry from the ship, and did not have to shoot it out with the vaunted SAS.

  They had all removed their ski masks, so the young hostage—Maggie Sterling, 28, a British citizen—was very afraid. They would never let her live now that she had seen their faces. She could not understand what they were saying, but when they leered at her and laughed, she knew she was in big trouble! She began praying silently to herself.

  • • •

  Shadow-4 trailed them for some forty miles before the black chopper turned in toward land and began skimming the trees. After five minutes, they arrived at a small clearing in the forest where Sara could see two gray vans parked on the side of a dirt road. The black chopper landed in the clearing.

  “Hatch,” Sara said over the secure channel, “they’re landing in a clearing, mark my GPS. There are two vans down there. This is where they plan to disappear.”

  “Good, Sara. I’ve got your location noted here, but I’m going to stay away from your position. All traffic in the area is being tracked, so I don’t want to lead them to you. I have Syd monitoring the Brits, and they just launched their attack helo from Athens Airport. You handle the situation there any way you want. Priority: save the hostage,” Hatch replied.

  “Roger, Hatch. Catch you later.”

  Syd had switched channels and heard the last exchange between Sara and Hatch. “Sara is in her element now, isn’t she?”

  “Oh, yes! Those guys are in deep shit now! They’re up against the best there is.”

  • • •

  Sara switched to intercom and said, “Bill, I say we put you and the rest of Lexus on the ground so we have a better chance of saving the hostage. What do you think?”

  Colonel Coffer responded, “I agree, Sara. Put me and Jake down south of the road, and Gunny and Carolyn on the north side. That way, we’ll have them boxed in. Drop us about fifty yards from the road so the down wash on the trees won’t alert them.”

  “Sounds good, Bill. You hear that, George? Let’s put ’em on the ground,” said Sara.

  “Wilco, Major,” said George O’Reilly, the pilot, as he banked to the right and began to lose altitude. “Skin check.”

  “All systems green.”

  Bill Coffer said, “Sara, we’ll try and take them without incident, but if things get dicey and they try to run, shoot out the engines on those vans. I don’t want anyone to escape.”

  “We’re on the same page there. You guys wear your comm helmets with the face plates down. We don’t need anyone getting a good look at your faces,” replied Sara.

  The Lexus team of four began donning their helmets and checking their weapons as the Engineer opened the hatch and tested his pulley systems and ropes. He was getting ready to “beam” them down.

  • • •

  As Shadow-4 settled to a hover at ten feet above the tree tops, Lexus team members did a communications check, since their specially-designed helmets used throat mikes instead of boom mikes. When he was satisfied with the test, Coffer put his foot in the loop at the bottom of the rope, grabbed onto it with both gloved hands, and was lowered toward the trees. As soon as Coffer was below the tree tops, Jake Randall, Lexus-3, gripped the rope with his gloved hands and began lowering himself hand-over-hand as the rope continued to descend. It took less than ten seconds for the two of them to disappear into the foliage of the forest. When they were both on the ground, Coffer told Tim Norton they were clear, and the rope slithered back up through the trees. Coffer and Randall split up and jogged quietly toward their assigned locations on the south side of the road.

  Shadow-4 gained altitude and moved to a spot north of the road and Gunny and Carolyn were lowered to the ground in the same manner. The Lexus team members were dressed in camouflaged combat suits and helmets—face plates down—and could be mistaken to be soldiers from Mars by some people. Shadow-4 took a position at 1500 feet over the road where Sara could see the movements of the highjackers. They were out of their helicopter and were loading both money bags into one of the vans. Sara saw one of the crooks take the female hostage by the arm and pull her roughly into the trees south of the road.

  “Lexus-1, one guy is dragging the woman hostage towards your position. They just entered the trees,” said Sara.

  “I see ’em! I’ll take care of it,” replied Coffer. “Lexus team, you in position?”

  They all acknowledged.

  “Good. I’ll take this guy and secure the hostage. Then I’ll call you, and we’ll make our move on the others.”

  Sara could not see any of the Lexus team, but their GPS markers appeared on her screen as red dots with numbers next to them, so she knew where they were. Shadow-4 was not quite as large as the new Shadow-5, and Shadow-5 had newer systems, but Shadow-4 had been operational for nearly a year without a problem and had finished all missions successfully. Sara had selected the Gun and had it locked-on to the engine area of the lead van. She did not want to use a missile for fear of harming the hostage—and the money. Besides, she thought Hatch would be happier with her if she could avoid killing all the bad guys.

  Stupid assholes! Give me a reason, and I’ll hose you! I saw you shoot that woman down in cold blood!

  Bill Coffer was only ten feet from the British woman and her captor. The Greek pushed her against a tree, put his AK-47 down, and ripped her blouse open. Then he yanked her bra down and exposed her left breast and began pawing it roughly as he held his left hand over her mouth to muffle her screams.

  Coffer thought, He intends to rape her before he kills her! Fucking son-of-a-bitch!

  Coffer decided at that moment that he would give up the idea of capturing the evil man—though it would be easy—and just slit his throat. He drew his deadly combat knife and moved quickly toward the two. Maggie Sterling saw the apparition coming out of nowhere and her eyes grew even wider as she looked over her captor’s shoulder. He did not notice, however, because he was too busy trying to lift her skirt and get her panties off. Coffer put his left hand over the man’s mouth and jerked him back as he plunged his knife in the base of his spine, instantly paralyzing him. He wheeled the man away from Maggie and slit his throat in one practiced motion. Coffer dropped him and turned toward Maggie who was about to scream at what she had just seen. Coffer put his gloved hand over her mouth and whispered, “Shh! I’m the good guy! Try and put yourself back together and just be quiet! I have more of them to deal with!”

  She nodded, so he removed his hand from her mouth. She put her breast back in her bra, adjusted it, and pulled her blouse together as best she could, because all of the buttons were popped off and the blouse was ripped.

  Coffer said, “Sit behind this tree and wait. I’ll be back for you. Stay quiet, please!”

  “Thank you! Whoever you are!” she whispered as she sat on the ground, leaned against the tree, and pulled her knees up to her chin. She was visibly shaking.

  Coffer gave her a thumbs up and disappeared into the forest as he told the team, “One down, hostage safe. Let’s take the rest of them!”

  • • •

  Gunny was behind a tree just a few feet from where the vans were parked. The four felons were on the other side of the vans from Gunny’s position, so he could only catch glimpses of them as they passed by a window. Across the road, Bill Coffer had a good view of them. Their AK-47s were leaning against the vans, but they were all wearing sidearms. Coffer reported this to Sara and his team.

&nb
sp; “Here’s the plan,” said Coffer. “Jake and I will confront them. Gunny, you and Carolyn stay out of our line of fire, but keep them from getting behind those vans. Comprende?”

  All three acknowledged, then Coffer said, “OK, Jake, let’s show ourselves.”

  The colonel moved from behind his tree, his MP-5 pointing at the group by the vans. Fifteen feet to the right, Jake Randall did the same. The face plates on the Lexus team’s helmets had a small round voice amplifier at the level of the wearer’s mouth.

  Coffer turned his on and yelled, “Freeze! You’re surrounded. Face down on the ground now!”

  The four criminals froze for an instant when they heard the tinny, disembodied voice. They looked across the road and saw the two eerie-looking soldiers pointing automatic weapons at them. Two of them acted very stupidly and grabbed for their AK-47s and dashed toward the rear of one of the vans, trying to reach cover. Coffer cut them down with two bursts from his MP-5. The one next to Koko dove under a van as Jake sent a stream of bullets at him, shattering his legs. During the fire-fight, Koko opened the passenger door of the van with the money bags and dove in, wriggling over to the driver’s side. He reached for the key in the ignition and tried to start the van’s engine, but as the starter began to turn, the engine was riddled with .50 caliber bullets from Shadow-4's Gun. Steam spewed from the engine compartment as Gunny yanked open the driver’s door and put the barrel of his MP-5 against Koko’s left ear.

  “Step down, asshole!” ordered Gunny. “Please try something so I can send you to Hell with your fucking buddies!”

  Carolyn Carter appeared from the trees and grabbed the bloody legs of the one who had tried to get under the van. She pulled him out from under it and saw that he was dead. One of the slugs had ricocheted into the back of his head. All of the crooks were dead except Koko. Coffer reported this to Sara.

  “Sorry, Sara. They left us no choice. I’m going to get the woman now. We’ll carry the ransom money into the woods so she won’t see you pick it and us up,” said Coffer.