Running Dark

by Jamie Freveletti

  Banner wanted to groan out loud. He hated Somalia. He currently had ten security contracts for shipping companies plying the Gulf of Aden trade route, but none for security within Somalia. It was one of the few places he tried to avoid sending Darkview personnel, despite the fact that Somali operations allowed for premium pricing based upon the extreme danger. There were two other companies in the contract security business that routinely handled matters there and made great profits doing so. Banner wondered why they weren’t represented at this meeting.

  “Banner, I understand that you’ve been hired to protect some of the ships using the trade route and may have an operative in the Indian Ocean as we speak.”

  Stromeyer gave a little jerk next to Banner, revealing her surprise. Banner held still, but he felt the dread rising in him. No one, not even Rickell, should have known that Sumner was in the Indian Ocean. Whoever was tapping them must have leaked the information.

  “I’m surprised to hear you say that. Where did you hear this?” Banner responded.

  Rickell shrugged and turned to Plower. “Who told us that?”

  Plower’s face took on a frantic look while she shuffled through a stack of papers in front of her. After an awkward silence, when it became clear to everyone in the room that she was unable to divine the answer from the documentation, Stromeyer reached across the table.

  “Ms. Plower, why don’t you hand me the forms and I’ll look for the information while Secretary Rickell continues with the meeting.” Plower gave Stromeyer a relieved nod and shoved the papers at her.

  “Well? Do you have an operative there?” Rickell asked.

  “I may.” Banner wasn’t prepared to tell Rickell everything until he knew what had occurred.

  “You may? If you don’t, I’ll use Synocorp. Your company is far too controversial at the moment. Last thing I need is Cooley questioning my choices.”

  Banner kept his voice neutral. “Why don’t you tell me what’s happening, and I’ll tell you if Darkview can help.”

  Rickell looked annoyed. “Here’s what’s happening: Three hours ago the USS Redoubtable answered a distress signal from a cruise ship headed to the Seychelles Islands. Seems they were under attack by pirates. While we are of course concerned about people on this ship, we are also deeply concerned about the international ramifications of intercepting the pirates without proper authority. As you know, the insurgents control most of Somalia as of last month, and they have instituted patrols along the edge of Somali territorial waters.”

  “Who owns the ship?” Banner asked.

  “It’s registered in Liberia, flies the Liberian flag, is operated by a German shipping conglomerate, and is owned by the Bermudan subsidiary of an American holding company. The passengers are tourists from ten different countries, including the U.S.”

  “So who’s the lucky country that gets to intercept?”

  Rickell shrugged. “None, or all of the above. The UN coalition forces have taken over patrolling the Gulf of Aden trade route, so the UN is first in line.”

  “What have they done?”

  Ms. Plower spoke up. “They’ve sent a strongly worded letter demanding the pirates cease and desist.”

  “That’ll work.” Banner’s voice was dry.

  “CTG 600 is in the area but under attack by another pirate cell, so it will be at least eighteen hours before they can address the problem.”

  “Who insures the ship?” Stromeyer said.

  “A Bermudan insurance company. They’ve indicated that they will pay a ransom immediately should the pirates successfully take the ship and passengers. They feel quite strongly that the pirates should not be provoked into escalating violence. Deaths would only result in lawsuits. But we need to mount some action, because we’re concerned about the cargo they’re carrying.”

  “I thought you said it was a cruise ship, not a cargo ship,” Banner said.

  “It’s both at the moment. It’s carrying both tourists and cargo.”

  Rickell hesitated. Banner could see that he was weighing how much to tell about the incident. Banner decided to nudge him along.

  “So what’s the cargo?”

  Rickell sighed. “It’s carrying pharmaceutical supplies and vaccines.”

  Stromeyer looked up from the paper in front of her. “Sounds harmless enough.”

  Rickell shook his head. “We just received an intelligence report claiming that hidden within the boxes marked ‘vaccines’ are two vials of ricin.”

  Banner watched Plower’s mouth drop open.

  “Is that a bomb?” she asked.

  “It’s poison derived from the beans of a castor plant. Introduce it into the food supply and thousands could die.”

  “And the boxes marked ‘pharmaceuticals’?” Stromeyer’s voice was shocked.

  Rickell shifted in his seat. “We’re told they contain something more dangerous than ricin, but we were not informed of the exact nature of what’s inside. Seems no one, not even our source, is sure what’s in there.”

  “Which company manufactured the vaccines?”

  “Price Pharmaceuticals,” Plower said.

  “Can they get us any closer? Is it chemical, mineral, explosive?” Banner asked.

  “We think chemical. After all, chemical weapons are the future—everybody knows this.”

  Banner was already planning the rescue. “You said the Redoubtable received the call. Can they intervene?”

  Rickell shook his head. “They’re under attack from a small group of militants. I say small, but they’re well armed. The Redoubtable is holding its own, of course, but there’s no time to fight this battle and then get to the cruise ship.”

  “Don’t you have some military in Djibouti? Why not have a guy parachute onto the ship?” Banner said.

  “Our Djibouti team is training the African Union forces. When training’s done, it’s our hope that they will secure Mogadishu for the transitional government there.”

  “How much of Mogadishu does the transitional government control? I thought it was quite small,” Stromeyer said.

  “Three blocks,” Rickell replied. He sighed. “I know it sounds like an impossible task.”

  Stromeyer shook her head. “Three blocks is more than most have been able to accomplish. Somalia’s government was too failed for even bin Laden to control. He left within a month. And that guy thinks living out of a cave is normal.”

  “Where’s the cruise liner?” Banner said.

  “Their radar is out. We’re not able to pinpoint their current location, but we think they were driven into Somali waters one hour ago, so we can’t fly into that area.”

  Stromeyer’s head snapped up from the documentation in front of her. “Oh, yes, we can. We have a UN resolution that allows any rescue ship to continue pursuit into territorial waters. Somalia welcomed the help.”

  Banner kept quiet and let Stromeyer handle the conversation. His men on Gulf of Aden security details were ordered to apprehend any crews that attempted to take one of his clients’ ships no matter where they were. They relied on the resolution when they chased pirates into the zone. Banner wasn’t about to let the criminals off simply because they crossed some invisible line.

  Plower spoke up. “That was last month. Now the insurgents control entire swaths of Somalia. They just sent us a demand that the resolution be suspended. They’ve informed us that any ships crossing into their territory will be considered to be trespassers and fired upon.”

  Banner snorted. “Tell them to go to hell. Make them back off long enough to get us to the cruise liner. If they knew what’s on it…”

  “Under no circumstances must anyone in Somalia know what’s on that ship!” Rickell said. “If they did, it would be overrun with criminals all looking to get at the ricin. We must maintain complete silence on this and continue on as we would in any other similar situation. Follow usual channels.”

  “And if the pirates successfully take the ship hostage?”

  “Then we must
guard the secret even more closely.”

  Banner saw Rickell’s point. There was a good chance that even if the pirates were successful, they might never give the vaccines a second look. Generally when attacking a ship, they took it to a nearby port, docked it, and offloaded the passengers. If the ship was still functioning, they used it until a ransom was paid. If not, they stripped it for parts and left it to rot. “What’s the name of the ship?” Banner slid a notepad closer to take the information. He’d break radio silence and let Sumner know to keep as far away as possible.

  “It’s the Kaiser Franz out of Hamburg.”

  This time Stromeyer stayed absolutely still. It was Banner who jerked in surprise.

  14

  “GIVE ME ALL THE FACTS YOU HAVE,” BANNER SAID TO RICKELL.

  Rickell nodded at Plower. “Go ahead.”

  “About an hour ago, the pirates attempted a standoff attack on the Kaiser Franz with rocket-propelled grenades. They managed to hit the ship twice before they were repelled.”

  “Repelled? How?” Stromeyer had stopped messing with the paper in front of her and was writing notes on a nearby notepad.

  “That’s the funny part. The passengers heard sonic blasts coming from the upper decks. We assume that this was the sound of the Long Range Acoustic Device that’s part of the Kaiser Franz’s security equipment. But another passenger called his father in England and claimed that he heard gunfire coming from the ship as well.”

  “Why is that strange?”

  “Guns are illegal on a cruise ship. It is unlikely that the Kaiser Franz has any.”

  “Could the passenger have mistaken the sound of the LRAD for gunfire?” Banner said.

  Plower shook her head. “I thought that, too, but after the explosions erupted, the passenger said that the pirates manning the ships sustained obvious bullet wounds. They turned away immediately.”

  Banner kept quiet. He had a sneaking suspicion who was responsible for the shots. It was all he could do not to glance at Stromeyer. She took a deep breath, but before she could speak, Plower continued.

  “Apparently the passenger’s father spent some time in the English Royal Navy. He told the son that only a highly trained sniper could have delivered such accurate hits. I checked with our experts here, and they agree. We immediately pulled the manifest.”

  “May I see it?” Banner kept his voice mild.

  Plower slid a piece of paper across to him. The manifest listed all the passengers in alphabetical order. Sumner wasn’t on it. Banner moved the list over to Stromeyer, who scanned it as well. She said nothing as she handed it back to Plower.

  “Does it matter, really? Whatever was done saved the passengers and crew.”

  Rickell waved a hand in the air. “It matters a lot to the insurgents. They’re claiming that the boat is a decoy for the U.S.”

  “Decoy for what?” Banner said.

  “They believe that the boat is actually dumping nuclear waste into the waters off Somalia.”

  Banner rubbed his forehead. “Oh, great.”

  “Relax, Banner, we’re not dumping nuclear waste. Although some countries are, and that’s another problem we’ll have to address soon. Whatever is in that hold is far more dangerous than some nuclear waste. We need to save that ship, and soon.”

  “Any aircraft carriers in the area? You could arrange for air surveillance and security while the ship heads to port.”

  “Not going to happen. The insurgents guarding the economic zone would fire on them in a heartbeat. This administration will not have another Black Hawk Down disaster.”

  Stromeyer put up a hand. “Wait a minute. I know about the territorial limits, but what’s the economic zone?”

  Plower visibly brightened, and Rickell nodded for her to answer. “It’s the zone that only the Somalis can fish. The waters off Somalia are filled with tuna, and the big companies were taking boatloads of it, leaving the Somali fishermen starving. To address this problem, most foreign ships are not allowed to fish within a two-hundred-mile nautical range off the coast.”

  “Well, we’re not going to fish, we’re saving people. Tell them to make an exception in this case.” Banner couldn’t keep the annoyance out of his voice.

  Rickell nodded. “The transitional government granted the request but warned us that the insurgents currently control the area.”

  “How long will it take for the Redoubtable to get near?”

  “Assuming the Redoubtable finishes up with its own security issues in the next sixty minutes—eight hours to three days.”

  “Three days. Why so long?” Stromeyer asked.

  “They’re far away. You have to understand, we’re talking over a million square miles of ocean. They can’t be everywhere. They focus their efforts on the most likely areas of piracy. And those areas have been the trade routes.”

  “So no real help there,” Banner said.

  Stromeyer started gathering her papers together. “To recap: We’ve got one stranded cruise ship with hundreds of civilians and one, maybe two chemical weapons either lost or sitting within the territorial zone of one of the most dangerous countries in the world, and the U.S. can’t, or won’t”—Stromeyer gave Rickell a pointed look—“enter the area to help them.”

  Rickell nodded. “Can’t. And yes, that’s it.”

  Stromeyer looked at Banner. He caught the look but was planning the steps he would take to board the ship and the price he would charge to do so. He finished up and laid the number on Rickell. Who exploded.

  “That’s highway robbery! Darkview has a contract with us. Standard rates in that contract should apply.”

  Banner shook his head. “This isn’t standard. First, I need to find a ship that’s located off one of the most dangerous coastlines of the world. Second, I need to secure the ship while fighting off attacking pirates. And third, I need to bring in a highly qualified individual to assess this chemical—whatever it is—and who will agree to infiltrate the ship at great risk to him-or herself.”

  Rickell snorted. “By the time the expert gets there, the vessel will already have been boarded and the people held hostage. What chemical specialist would be crazy enough to actually join those poor people?”

  “Someone in the area with something at stake on the ship.”

  “Who would that be?”

  “Emma Caldridge.”

  15

  SUMNER WHISTLED. BLOCK WAS AT HIS SIDE FIVE MINUTES LATER.

  “What is it?”

  “Listen.”

  The cigarette boat engine roar grew louder.

  “Here they come.” Block unsnapped the Taser from its holster and removed the safety.

  Sumner pulled a walkie-talkie off his belt. Depressed the button. “We have visitors. Coming from the port side. Douse the lights.”

  Twenty seconds later the entire ship went dark. Sumner heard the babble of voices in the distance. The passengers in the dining rooms were responding to the blackout.

  From the right came the dancing beam of a small LED flashlight. As it drew closer, Sumner could just make out Janklow’s form, followed by a member of the ship’s crew.

  Janklow walked up to Block and Sumner. “How far?” he whispered.

  “Listen,” Sumner said. But the sound of the engine was gone.

  “I don’t hear anything.”

  “Me neither, not anymore,” Block said.

  “Listen for the sound of oars.”

  “They’d still have to see us,” Janklow said.

  “They could have night-vision goggles.”

  Janklow moved closer to the railing and looked along the ship’s side. “That’s way too sophisticated equipment for these guys. They’re Somali fishermen, for God’s sake.”

  “They had RPGs, a cigarette boat worth over eighty thousand dollars, and at least one AK-47. Night-vision goggles would be the least expensive piece of hardware from that list,” Sumner said. The roar of the cigarette engine began again. He estimated it was over a mile away.
/>   “We’ll find out soon enough.” Block sounded grim.

  Sumner knew that the ship stocked a couple of Tasers, but no other type of weapon save the flare guns. Everyone, including Sumner, was dressed in dark, plain clothes per Captain Wainwright’s orders. Sumner recognized the crew member accompanying Janklow as a man all the crew members called Clutch. Sumner thought Clutch had a mean streak. He was a bouncer and sometime bodyguard who walked around in a state of repressed anger. Sumner didn’t know his story, but it couldn’t have been a happy one. Clutch had a flare gun attached to his belt.

  Something about the engine noise bothered Sumner. It was too obvious. The pirates had to know that the entire crew of the Kaiser Franz would be prepared for their return. Over two hundred employees on a large cruise ship carrying at least three hundred passengers. How did four skinny men expect to prevail against them? Sumner shifted his thinking to address the problem from their perspective. Thought about what he’d do given the same odds.

  “I hope you’re ready to shoot, Sumner. Because your gun is the only one that’s got the range to kill them before they reach us,” Janklow said.

  The cigarette boat fell silent again. Sumner set his jaw and strained to hear. He disliked the silence. The quiet stretched on for five, then ten minutes. Clutch sauntered over, wearing an attitude as if the situation caused him no concern whatsoever, which was idiotic, as his title was head of security.

  “They figured out that they’re crazy to take us on. We outnumber them by so much that they’d have to be insane to even attempt this. That’s why they stopped.” Clutch spoke softly, but even so his voice held a note of arrogance that Sumner found annoying.

  “Maybe,” Janklow said. “Sumner, what do you think?”

  Sumner hated to rain on the ‘we’re superior to them’ parade, but he didn’t agree at all.

  “I think they’re going to stay a safe distance away and blast the hell out of the ship with their grenades. They’ll kill two-thirds of us, then they’ll radio back to a larger ship that’s floating nearby, and that one will proceed to board us.”

  Sumner couldn’t see anyone’s face, but he could have sworn that the silence that met him held a thread of stunned disbelief.