The Kill Button

by Tom Hron

  All at once the impossible came true. The man in the Honolulu shirt stepped nearer him. He shot out from under the winch, grabbed him, whipped the knife against his throat, and backpedaled until he bumped into the A-frame where he’d first hidden. Now no one could get behind him. The two Africans with the Heckler & Kocks spun around the instant they saw him, but it was too late. “I hope you speak English,” Harry said, “or you’re a dead man. Now tell those two to drop their guns.”

  “You’re the one who’d better surrender, since you haven’t a prayer.”

  “Tell them.” Harry seesawed the knife on the man’s windpipe until it drew blood.

  “No—you give up.”

  “All right, we’re going over the side.” He jerked sideways toward the ship’s railing. “The sharks can have you while I escape, since the smell of blood will drive them crazy.”

  “No, I’ll do it, stop.” The man then let out a stream of words sounding like pidgin.

  The Africans simply eyed both of them as if they might start blasting away, regardless. Though Shawki and Alexis were still underwater, Harry saw they were trying to sink the damaged submersible and were in a tug-of-war with the two inflatables. He had to find a way to settle the contest before events spun out of control. “Jerusalem won’t be too happy if you mess this up,” he said, “besides, there’s no leprosy, so give it up.”

  The man in the shirt stiffened. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Time was running out, and the two Africans looked like they might get trigger-happy at any second.

  “Does the name Alexis Mundy mean anything to you? She’s in the submersible that’s trying to sink yours. Now convince your side to back off.”

  All at once, there was another stream of odd syllables.

  Almost as if they were rheumatoid, both Africans laid down their rifles, but within easy reach. Afterward, they glanced up at the bridge.

  Harry realized that he wasn’t out of the woods yet, not by a long shot. “Where’s the guy with the two dogs? Get him out here and then I’ll let you go. Let’s work this out before someone gets killed.”

  “You’ve half cut my throat and now you want to be friends? How nice.” The man sighed as though he had lived too long, then spoke to the Africans once more. One turned away, but in no great hurry.

  “You’re the Mossad spy she mentioned, the one she said looked like a Frenchman. Who are you?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me?”

  “No, probably not.” Harry couldn’t help a reticent smile. “All right, let’s call you Sweet Lips. That will irritate the hell out of you, especially if your handlers ever hear the name. They’ll never look at you quite the same.”

  “Who the hell runs you?” the man asked. “It can’t be Langley.”

  “I’ll ask the questions, if you don’t mind. Tell me where you came from.”

  “The islands over there. We’ve been searching for the Black Dragon at night, leastwise until you came along.” Then the man lifted his voice. “Now that I’ve seen your ship, I see that I chose the wrong people and equipment. Looks like bigger is much better.”

  Joe marched back on deck with his dogs, followed by the African who had released him. Grinning when he spotted Harry, he walked over. Then his eyes widened when he noticed both inflatables were in a pulling contest with something below the surface. “What in hell is going on out there?” he asked, returning his attention to Harry.

  “Shawki and Alexis are keeping the troops busy while I take back the Capricornio.”

  “You’ve got the ringleader but not the ones who are holding the captain. There’s two more up on the bridge.”

  “I figured that from the way these in front of us behaved.”

  “We need those two guns.” Joe’s eyes focused on the two rifles lying nearby.

  The crewmen who had been kept on deck to help run the Capricornio sensed what was coming and started sneaking off.

  “The guys on the bridge probably will come out shooting the moment we try taking them.” Harry set his face in a scowl and gave the Frenchman a jerk. “My friend here hasn’t got very good control over them.”

  “Do they speak any English?” Joe gave both a dirty look.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “We don’t dare let those boats come back here, because they’ll kill us if they do.”

  The Frenchman pulled his long eyebrows together in terror. “Don’t start a gunfight, for God’s sake. We’ll all get killed if you do. Let me talk to them.”

  Harry scowled again. “Sorry, but there’s no way we can trust you, and besides I think you promised something that you can’t deliver, like this ship. Joe’s absolutely right, we can’t take the chance.” Smiling, he lowered his knife in pretended carelessness. “Sic your dogs on them, Joe. Then follow me, because I’m going after those guns.”

  “What about him?” Joe glanced at the Frenchman.

  “He’s not armed, and if he knows what’s good for him he’ll crawl under something like the rat that he is. There’s no way he can escape.”

  In what seemed like a minute, but in reality was only a split second, Cochise and Geronimo attacked the two Africans. Instantly, Harry and Joe followed, both lunging for the two Heckler & Kocks. The deck turned into a screaming and snarling melee of men and dogs. Harry tumbled out first, afterward Joe, each rolling in opposite directions with the rifles. The door on the bridge flew open and an African leaped out with his gun spitting tracers and turning the amidships into a haze of splinters and sparks. Harry dove behind the A-frame, sighted, and killed the man with a burst of gunfire. The deck fell silent as quickly as it had become a storm.

  “Are you or the dogs hit?” he called, praying the gunman had avoided aiming at his two friends, thereby sparing the dogs.

  “We’re fine,” answered Joe. “Did you get him?”

  “Yes, but where are the guys the dogs jumped?”

  “They have them cornered under the main winch with that son of a bitch you should’ve cut the throat on.” There was amusement in Joe’s voice. “They ain’t going no place.”

  “Are you in a position where you can fire at the boats over beside their submersible? They must have heard the shots.”

  “Yeah, and it looks like they might start coming this way.”

  “Run a string of shots at them and drive them away. They’re pretty defenseless and I want Shawki and Alexis to see them leave.”

  There was a long volley of gunshots, and then anxious shouting and snarling outboards filled the distance. Finally, it turned quiet again.

  Harry peeked around the A-frame and searched for the Frenchman. “Sweet Lips, can you hear me?” he yelled. “Get that last man off the bridge. He’s isolated and doesn’t stand a chance, so talk some sense into him or I’ll make sure his friends leave him behind.”

  “You don’t trust me, so why should I trust you?”

  “Look, I told you there isn’t any leprosy.” Then Harry’s words were like an intonation. “Chambers was killed because he had learned the Nazi’s ethnic weapon had been salvaged long ago.”

  “The CIA already has it?”

  “There’s no other explanation.”

  The Frenchman called out in Crioulo with a pleading voice, and after a brief exchange the last African walked down off the bridge with his hands up. Joe shoved him over to where his two friends were standing and told the dogs to guard them. He then pulled the Frenchman from under the winch and gave him a shove toward Harry. Get a move on, he growled, and I’m not forgetting that your guys roughed me up when the dogs and me couldn’t do nothing about it.

  “Keep an eye on everything while I see that the captain and crew are okay,” said Harry after Joe had reached him. I better call Shawki and Alexis and tell them that we have things under control.”

  “What do we do with this lowlife?” Joe asked as he glared at the Frenchman.

  “We’re keeping him with us. We’ll free the others after we haul in Shawki
and Alexis.” Harry then crooked his head toward the two inflatable boats standing off beyond rifle range of the ship. “Let fly with your rifle if they come any closer or so much as look at Shawki’s submersible. I don’t want them getting their courage up.”

  Joe’s gleaming eyes said that he would.

  The captain looked like the world had been lifted off his shoulders when Harry walked onto the bridge. Thank God, no one was seriously hurt, he said, though it was probably because the attackers were in such a big hurry to find you. Given enough time, they would have surely killed us all and kept the Capricornio for themselves. They’re nothing but bloodthirsty pirates, damn their souls, he ranted.

  “I need to radio Shawki and Alexis and tell them to let the other submersible loose,” said Harry. “The last thing we need is to start another gunfight, and that could very well happen if they decide to sink it.”

  The captain switched the ship’s marine radio to the frequency that Shawki had said he’d monitor and Harry quickly made his call. Come on back … we’ve retaken the ship. Alexis’s happy voice echoed in the background as Shawki rogered the message.

  In the next half-hour the ship’s crew hauled in Shawki’s submersible, disembarked Alexis and him, and lowered the three Africans and their dead companion overboard into a lifeboat. Don’t come back, Joe warned, and then sprayed the water around them with automatic gunfire. They paddled away as if they had just seen the devil himself.

  The Frenchman and Alexis stared at each other so long Harry let out an artificial laugh. “What’s the matter, you two?” he asked. “You both look like you’ve just met some long-lost relative.”

  “I never thought I’d ever see him again,” answered Alexis.

  “Thought you didn’t know where the Black Dragon was,” the Frenchman shot back.

  “I didn’t, but I wasn’t willing to let you find it first.” Alexis sounded as if she were in a slow burn.

  “Well, how’d you find it?”

  “The torpedo. And you?”

  “Researched old newspapers until I found the name of the destroyer that had confirmed the sinking and then had its ship’s log stolen from the National Archives. It cost me a pretty penny, and as you can see the coordinates were way off.”

  “Serves you right, since you have no business here.”

  Harry stepped between both. “Look, I hate to break up this love match, but we have lots of work to do.” He hailed Shawki and Joe, who were inspecting the submersible for damage. Both walked over.

  Harry faced Shawki as if he wanted to clear something up, and his sober face brought everyone to attention.

  “This is the Mossad agent who Alexis told us about. He won’t give us his name, so I’ve decided to call him Sweet Lips so his handlers will start wringing their hands whenever they hear the name.” He paused as if he wanted the introduction to sink in, then went on. “I know how you feel about the Mossad, but we’re in a situation where we have to work with him, conspire if you will. I’m almost sure I know what SiddhArtha means.”

  Alexis quickly lifted her head, Joe turned all eyes, and Shawki and the Frenchman straightened themselves. Drawing a collective breath, they waited for him to go on. Turning so he could see all of them, he continued, “Spies love cover names and they use them to protect their identities and also as badges of courage.” He paused a moment. “I think David Skeleter is SiddhArtha, he who would be king, borrowing from what Alexis said a few days ago. He has been working next to the president as a spymaster and political operative. What better place than the Security Council where you have access to almost everything? It’s no wonder our enemies always know what our country is doing?”

  Joe’s eyes bore in on Harry. “He’s the one who had you shot down, then had my place bombed because he was worried that I might know something? I bet that he had the general from Area fifty-one do it, then figured out how to kill him too, so it would all be covered up.”

  “Yes, and I suppose if we had a way of finding out we would learn that both had worked together in the past, probably in Europe somewhere,” replied Harry while nodding his head. “They planned to have me lost in space, but it didn’t work out quite that way, and they were after you because they’re unwilling to take any chances.”

  Alexis’s curiosity tightened like a string. “Then Skeleter planned on killing me as well, and that’s why Magruder and Reechi were working together. They were worried about what Dewey Chambers had told me.”

  “I don’t think they actually wanted to kill you,” answered Harry, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking circumspect. “That would have left too many bodies lying around from the same directorate, which would have resulted in an investigation by the Justice Department or even congress. Maybe you were being set up like you first thought.” Then he looked at the Frenchman and smiled. “But thanks to Sweet Lips, you got away.”

  The Frenchman glanced around and then stared at Harry. “Look, I’m happy for Alexis but I’m still left empty-handed, at least if you’re telling me the truth about the leprosy being gone. By now your country’s research labs have probably mutated it into an ethnic weapon that will exterminate any race they wish.” He slowly shook his head as if he’d just learned that his best friend had died. “No wonder SiddhArtha has been so busy with his cover-up. There would be worldwide outrage and condemnation if it were ever revealed that your government had that kind of biotechnology, especially since you’ve made it so damn criminal in the world’s mind that no one but a chosen few should have weapons of mass destruction. He and his buddies would be arrested and no one would ever believe for a second that your president hadn’t known about this all along. A total political meltdown would result.”

  “I realize that.” Harry lowered his gaze again. “That’s why we must get back to Washington as soon as possible.”

  The Frenchman slowly nodded his head while the others stood with their mouths open.

  They secured Shawki’s equipment and made for Cape Verde Islands at full speed. Worried about the Capricornio’s captain and crew being a little unnerved by the hijacking, Harry spent his time on the bridge watching them, and the weather horizon as well. The idea that he was running out of time haunted him, and he felt as though he were in the Aurora again, where every second counted. More important, he’d reached a point where he needed to share the whole truth with someone. The ship’s constant din would cover his voice, he thought to himself, and so he called Joe up to the bridge.

  He let his eyes emphasize what he had to say when Joe walked in, since his words had to be just right. “I haven’t told you everything about myself that you should know, and now I see things flying out of control,” he began. “Everything you and I believe in and everything we treasure is at risk.” He paused for a breath. “Whatever you do don’t take your eyes off Sweet Lips. I want you and the dogs joined at the hip with him. Our lives depend on it.”

  Joe met his eyes. “Don’t worry, he ain’t getting away.”

  “He’s smarter than you think.”

  “Well, Cochise and Geronimo will have his ass for lunch if he tries it. We ain’t too happy about being caught off guard last night. They sent a couple of frogmen in first, and with all the noise and fuss we didn’t see them until it was too late.”

  “I’m going to tell him that you’re watching him, since he’d expect we would.”

  “Okay…” Puzzled, Joe pinched his brow together.

  “Catherine’s murder, Dewey Chambers, all the craziness before and after, I may know the reason why now, beyond what I’ve already told you and the others. I might never have guessed it if Alexis hadn’t found us.”

  “You didn’t even want to come here at first.”

  “It was Catherine’s death, and I couldn’t think straight. I should have known the lepry canisters were missing.”

  Joe looked querulous. “Tell me what in hell is going on.”

  “I’m secretly working for the president, and now I’m almost sure they will try ass
assinating him, since that’s their only way out.”

  Joe looked at him as if he’d heard an explosion.

  Harry was only halfway done. “It’s only by the Grace of God that we haven’t been hit by the same weapon they used on the Aurora or something just as powerful, since it seems that Star Wars is a lot further along than I thought. Alexis gave me some information that I hadn’t known before. I was cloistered at Area fifty-one too long and hadn’t realized how far along the Air Force was with its ionosphere heaters and airborne lasers.”

  Joe let out a rush of air. “You’re telling me that we could’ve been shot down?”

  “I’ll shadow another airplane when we fly back. No one can get us on radar if I’m on someone’s tail, especially going into Washington, D.C., where there’s so many passenger flights. Skeleter won’t dare hitting the wrong airplane, and besides, with General Drucker dead he’s probably lost his key asset in the Air Force.”

  Still looking shocked, Joe gave him a diagonal look. “What do we do about customs? We have the Frenchman, and how in hell do we explain having Alexis along?”

  “We’re not landing at Dulles International. Alexis said that she left a car in Manassas, Virginia, and thinks it will still be there, since it’s not been that long. That would be perfect for us, even though it might have a beeper on it.”

  Joe just shook his head as if he’d taken way too many punches.

  The following day arrived and they docked in Espargos and began their mad rush to the airport. After paying the Capricornio’s captain and asking him to return Shawki’s submersible and equipment to Bahrain, they telephoned Officer Koumba for a ride. My friends, he shouted when he saw them waiting for him, and then good-naturedly piled everyone into his beat-up car. Harry, Joe, and the Frenchman sat in back with the dogs and Shawki and Alexis sat in front with Tungsten. Undaunted by a busted muffler and the engine bucking as if it were running out of gas, he tore off with his voice in full song.