The Isle of Devils HOLY WAR

by R. C. Farrington

  Storm turned back to Savage saying, “If anyone heard that shot this deck will be swarming in a minute.” The two ran as fast as they could to get back to the hold hatch. Once through the hatch the trio moved quickly over to the hatch door that led to the cargo hold below them.

  Fortunately for the trio none of the terrorists had heard the shot being fired. While the trio was waiting Savage said, “Look mates one of us has got to get off this tanker and alert the Commissioner.” Savage turned and looked at Krack.

  Krack snapped back, “Now wait a minute, mon. I can’t swim that well.”

  Storm smiled and added, “Don’t worry, my brother. We’ll give you a couple of life preservers and set you afloat in one of these drums. You’ll be back to shore in no time.”

  Krack shook his head and said, “You guys are nuts if you think I’m going overboard in a drum. Plus the police aren’t going to believe me anyway.”

  Savage stood up and replied, “Krack, it’s like this, mate. You don’t have a choice.” Savage walked over to the wall where a couple of life preservers were hanging. He ripped them off the wall and threw them at Krack saying, “Let’s go, mate. You’re going for a swim.” Krack knew it was a losing cause to continuing fighting against Savage’s plan.

  Krack gave Savage a look that could kill replying, “Alright, you bastard, let’s go.” The three emptied out a barrel of plastic explosives and carried it over to the hatch. They made sure the coast was clear; then they lifted the drum up and went through the hatchway. Once on the deck they made a bee-line for the ship’s railing.

  When they got to the railing Storm said, “We’re going to drop the drum in the ocean first then you’ll have to go right after it. The wake from the tanker is going to carry the drum away quickly and you’ll never catch up to it if you don’t jump quickly.”

  Krack was very nervous. The drop to the ocean must be forty to fifty feet. He started to climb up on the ship’s gunwhale, but Savage grabbed him by the shoulder and said, “Wait a minute, mate, take this and show it to the Commissioner.” Savage handed Krack his inspector’s badge. Krack put the badge in his pocket and said, “Let’s do this now before I chicken out.” Savage and Storm picked up the drum and let it drop over the railing bottom first hoping it would stay afloat.

  Storm added, “God be with you, brother.” Krack gave them two thumbs up and jumped with one life preserver on each arm. All you could hear was Krack yelling, “Oh hell!” as he dropped like a rock to the water. Krack hit the water hard and he lost one of his life preservers. He quickly got his bearing back and swam as quickly as he could towards the drum.

  Savage and Storm could no longer see Krack through the pitch black night. Then all of a sudden they heard a scream in Arabic, “Man overboard.” The tankers search lights were turned on and began scanning the ocean like laser beams. Finally they spotted the drum and at the same time Krack was trying to climb into it.

  Imad was now on deck, and he also could see Krack. He screamed out:

  “It’s one of the infidels. Send him to hell!” Within seconds there was automatic weapon firing from multiple terrorists on the tanker. The drum had been hit multiple times. The drum bobbed lifelessly up and down in the water as the passing ship’s wake shoved it farther away from the tanker.

  Storm and Savage knew that the drum was now clear of the tanker, but they had no idea if their friend had survived the vicious assault. All they could hear were cheers from the terrorist’s onboard and random victory shooting of their weapons into the black night. The two used the distraction to make their way back to the cargo hold.

  Imad went over to the guard and yelled at them, “Stop firing, you fools! The other two infidels are probably still onboard. Be on the lookout for them. If you find them, kill them!” Imad stormed off to report the events to Hooda.

  Harbour Radio

  Harbour Patrol was out on their midnight run around the Great Sound. For the Patrol tonight appeared to be just another boring nightly run. As they neared the entrance to the sound a strange bobbing object in the water drew the attention of one of the officers. The officer turned the spotlight on the object and yelled out, “Check that object off the starboard.” The patrol boat maneuvered over to the bobbing drum. The closer they got to the drum, it was apparent that it was riddled with bullet holes.

  The officer closest to the drum yelled out, “Sir, this drum must have been used for target practice by the Bermuda Regiment.” He reached over and pulled the drum alongside the boat. The officer was alarmed at the contents. He screamed, “We have a body in the drum!”

  The other crew members quickly helped pull Krack out of the drum. They laid his bullet riddled body down on the deck. One of the officers took his right wrist trying to check for a pulse without noticing what fell out of his hand. The officer couldn’t believe it as he turned to the others and said, “He’s got a pulse. He’s alive!”

  The other officer yelled out, “Call an ambulance and have them meet us at Albouy’s Point.” Within seconds the patrol boat was at full throttle with flashing red lights and sirens making a bee-line for Albouy’s Point.

  A few minutes later the patrol boat was tied up at Albouy’s Point. The ambulance crew had Krack on a stretcher and was preparing him for the ambulance. While Krack was being loaded in the ambulance one of the officers noticed a shiny object on the deck. He reached down and picked it up. After looking at it he jumped out of the boat and ran straight for one of his fellow officers standing by the ambulance. As the ambulance pulled out for the hospital the officer said, “Check this out. It’s Inspector Savage’s badge and ID.”

  The other officer replied, “I wonder if Savage has been shot up in a drug bust that went bad? Why would this man have his badge and ID?” He quickly pulled out his police radio and called headquarters to make sure an officer was present to meet the ambulance when it arrived at King Edward Hospital.

  Word spread quickly throughout the department about the strange events of the night. Not only did an officer meet the ambulance, there was also the Commissioner and several of his staff. When Krack was brought out of the ambulance on the stretcher the Commissioner met them before they could enter the hospital. The Commissioner asked one of the attendants, “Has this man spoken?”

  The ambulance attendant replied, “Except for a few moans he’s mostly been unconscious.”

  The Commissioner added, “Go ahead and get him into the ER, but make sure the doctors call me the second he regains consciousness.”

  The attendants whisked Krack into the ER while the Commissioner and his staff anxiously awaited a chance to talk to Krack.

  Meanwhile, three scooters were zooming across the airport causeway. The riders were totally focused on their mission. Their training and commitment to their cause was beyond the imagination of most Westerners. These terrorists were not just willing to die for their cause. They expected to die for it. Hooda was taking no chances. No one was going to stop Cobra from striking a deadly blow to the West.

  The three terrorists continued past the airport and on, by-passing St. David’s. They were now headed straight to St. George’s. As they entered the village of St. George’s, all three took a hard left turn and sped up Fort George Hill Road. They were on their way to the Harbour Radio Station on the top of Fort George Hill. The facility was very unusual it was built on the top of Fort George. This old stone structure was complete with a moat and cannons. The Harbour Radio Station was responsible for vessel traffic surveillance in and out of Bermuda. This was the reason Hooda had sent his men to the station; he wanted no one to know his tanker had left Bermuda until it was too late to react to his departure.

  The three terrorists parked their scooters just out of sight of the station. They wanted to make sure the occupants did not know they were nearing. One of the terrorists hid behind some bushes with an automatic pistol guarding the entrance to the facility. He was ready to kill any surprise visitors. The other two were dressed like local pizza delivery people with a
huge surprise in their pizza boxes.

  Two station operators were at the station tonight monitoring the equipment. Both were very busy and didn’t notice anything going on outside of the station.

  Meanwhile back on the tanker Storm and Savage were trying to develop a game plan. They had no idea if Krack had made his way to shore to alert the authorities. Savage spoke first, “Let’s sneak on deck and see where we are.” Storm nodded in agreement, and the two crept out on deck.

  As they were looking at the shoreline Storm said, “I wish we could warn someone on shore.”

  Savage thought for a minute and said, “Just a minute mate I’ll be right back.” He went back through the hatch and unclipped a flashlight he has seen with other supplies in the cargo hold. He quickly returned to the top deck where Storm was. Savage pointed towards the shore and said, “Look, mate, see that flashing tower over there?”

  Storm replied, “Yeah, why?”

  Savage replied, “At the base of that tower is Bermuda Harbour Radio. There’s a staff there all night keeping an eye out for ship traffic in and out of Bermuda and ships or boats in distress. I think it’s time to send them a distress signal.”

  Storm added, “That’s a great idea. Do you know Morse code?”

  Savage smiled and said, “Just a little bit, I did learn the basic alphabet when I was a young Sea Cadet. Keep an eye out for our terrorist host while I signal.” Savage began to flash the SOS signal over and over towards the shore.

  Back at Harbour Radio, one of the station attendants noticed the flashing from out in the ocean. He turned to the other attendant snapping his finger and said, “Hey, take a look at this out in the ocean. What do you make of it?”

  The other attendant was a bit puzzled at first then he said, “Someone out there is flashing us an SOS signal.” Just then they both heard a pounding on the door.

  The other attendant said, “You keep watching, and I’ll go see who’s at the door.” He went to the door and opened it, but before he could say anything one of the terrorists lowered his pizza box exposing his pistol and shot the attendant through the head. They quickly stepped through the doorway and entered the room where the other attendant was. The attendant saw the terrorist first. He picked up his chair and threw it through the window shattering it into a million pieces. Without a moment to waste he jumped through the window falling over thirty feet to the bottom of the moat. The terrorist looked down at the lifeless form assuming he was dead. They quickly noticed the tanker passing by and saw that someone was flashing a signal from the deck. One of the terrorists flipped open his cell phone and called Imad to tell him what they had seen. Imad instructed the terrorists to call the third man in from guarding the entrance and await his next command. Once he knew all three were in the station, he keyed a special code into his cell phone. Within seconds the station blew up sending fire and smoke hundreds of feet into the air. Imad flipped his phone closed and said, “Cobra’s venom is lethal.” He turned to his men and said, “Put the next plan into action. When you’re done find me those infidels and kill them. They’re trying to signal for help.

  The explosion was so massive that Savage and Storm were jarred backwards several feet. Storm got up and said, “What the hell? Something just blew the hell out of Bermuda Harbour Radio. They won’t be monitoring anything for awhile.”

  Savage shook his head and said, “These terrorists have thought of everything. They’re not taking any chances. We better get below. I’m sure there’s going to be some action on the deck now.” The two went below quickly.

  Back at the hospital Krack had regained consciousness, and the Commissioner had been called to his side. The Commissioner walked over to Krack and said, “You’re going into surgery in a few minutes to have those bullets removed, but before you go I have to ask you a few questions.”

  Krack nodded his head, but his thoughts were still very fuzzy.

  The Commissioner held up Savage’s badge and asked, “Where did you get this badge? Did you kill the inspector?”

  Krack whispered, “Savage told me to find you and warn you.”

  The Commissioner fired back, “Don’t mess with me, mate. I already know you’re a small time crook. Do you want me to throw the book at you?” As the Commissioner finished, an officer ran into the room and whispered into his ear. The Commissioner said, “Take him on to surgery. I’ve got to go. The Harbour Radio Station just blew up.”

  As the Commissioner turned to walk away, Krack yelled out and grabbed his arm stopping him, “Wait, it’s the terrorists!”

  The Commissioner stopped dead in his tracks and said, “Did you say terrorists?’

  Krack nodded his head and added, “Savage gave me his badge to warn you that the terrorists were leaving the island on the tanker ‘Sahara Gold. The deck is loaded with speedboats. They’re heading for a target somewhere.”

  The Commissioner demanded, “Do you know where?”

  Krack was sinking fast and all he could do was to turn his head from side to side.

  The Commissioner took Krack’s hand and said, “I apologize for not believing you, Krack. You’ve done a service for your country.” He turned to the surgeons and said, “Get this man into surgery ASAP and make sure he lives.” He let Krack go and headed for the door to his car.

  The Deception

  Imad went straight to the Captain’s quarters to give Hooda a report. Imad knocked on the door and entered the Captain’s quarters. Imad said, “Hooda, may I speak?”

  Hooda replied, “Yes, go ahead.”

  Imad added, “Bermuda Harbour Radio is destroyed.”

  Hooda snapped back, “I know that! Don’t you think I can hear and see you fool? Yes, it was magnificent. How many infidels did we send to hell?”

  Imad replied, “Two, Hooda.”

  Hooda stood up and pounded his fists on the desk yelling, “The Holy War has begun. In a few days we will send thousands of infidels to hell.”

  Imad saluted Hooda and said, “Yes sir.”

  Hooda added, “Go make the tanker ready for the voyage while we’re still under the cover of darkness. When you’re done, find our visitors and kill them.”

  Imad saluted again and said, “Yes, Hooda.” He turned and left the Captain’s quarters.

  Imad went to the tanker’s bridge and barked out commands over the ship’s intercom system. Immediately activities all over the tanker began to happen.

  Below deck Storm and Savage had been listening to Imad’s commands. Savage was first to talk, “It appears like they’ve sounded the battle alert.”

  Storm replied, “Maybe they did. Maybe this is a battle ship and not a tanker.”

  Savage added, “Well, if that’s the case, we’d better figure out what’s going on and plan a little sabotage just in case Krack never got through to the Commissioner.”

  As Storm stood up he said, “I’m sure he was found, but I agree the more we find out about this tanker the better.” The two began moving in the direction of the hatch which led to the top deck.

  Meanwhile three separate work crews with scaffolding began lowering the scaffolds down to where the ship’s name was on all three sides of the tanker. While they were doing this Storm and Savage were watching one of the crews work on the starboard side of the bow of the tanker.

  Storm looked puzzled and whispered to Savage, “What in the hell are they up to? Why would they be cleaning the tanker now?”

  Savage whispered back, “Not sure, but let’s watch and see.” They both crept over to the railing of the tanker and hid behind some piping while they watched the crew work feverishly like army ants.

  One of the terrorists on the scaffold pulled out a machete from his belt and began raking it across the side of the tanker. After he repeated the process a few times part of the ship’s outer skin peeled up. He replaced the machete in his belt and grabbed at the peeled edge of the tanker. Another terrorist quickly began helping him peel back the tanker’s skin. After about ten minutes of peeling the thin skin ba
ck, they appeared to be done. They lifted the rolled up skin back to the ship and started scrubbing down the area. Another twenty minutes passed and they crawled back onto the tankers deck and left the area for what appeared to be a break.