***
“You’re a pretty girl,” Mei Lan said, holding a knife to Hillary’s face. “Tell me who you are and who you work for and I will spare your face.”
Hillary struggled against the cord holding her hands together. “I told you. I am a pilot.”
The knife brushed against her cheek, then slid down to her blouse. Mei Lan clipped the first button, and Hillary felt the cold steel against her breast.
“Maybe here instead,” she said.
Hillary felt the pressure of the blade against her skin and cringed. She was just about to speak when the door burst open.
“They escaped,” the crewman said.
“How?” Mei Lan hissed. She withdrew the blade and pointed it at the man.
Hillary noticed a drop of blood fall from the tip and realized it was hers.
She turned to Hillary. “I’ll be back for you,” she said and left with the man.
Hillary slumped in the chair, exhausted from the effort of just holding on. Her Navy training had covered capture, but not this situation. The woman was clearly unstable and sadistic. She tried her ties again, but they wouldn’t yield. With the ship underway, she tried to sort through her options and realized just how limited they were. Just as she was about to give up hope, the door opened and she saw a familiar face.
“Hillary, are you okay?” Mako went for the ties on her wrists.
“Hold on,” Storm said, stopping him. “We can’t just break her out. We need a plan.”
“You can’t leave me here. Look what she did to me.” She looked down at the spot of blood on her blouse.
“She’s right,” Mako said.
“Look, people. This is not going to work with all three of us running around holding hands. It’s bad enough with the two of us. It’s much better if she’s here.”
Hillary stared at him. “I can suck it up if you have a plan.”
***
Alicia slammed her fists against the keyboard in frustration. There was nothing she could do. The ship had turned off the Wi-Fi, eliminating her access to its controls just after they left the dock. Fortunately they had not disabled the radar tracker, and she was able to watch the yacht’s progress. The Agency had been notified and were supposedly calling the Navy in, but this was a tricky political situation. Taking an Iranian vessel in international waters to rescue Americans that were not supposed to be there did not fall under the guise of a standard operation.
Leave that to the Navy, she thought. She had gone into their computers through an old Agency link and seen that their closest assets were in Puerto Rico. There were no ships close enough to intercept the vessel if it maintained its current speed. The option of sinking it from the air was off the table with the suspected uranium aboard, never mind the three Americans.
She held off the temptation to text Mako and Hillary’s phones in case they were or would be compromised. Cody came in, placed a mug of hot tea in front of her and rubbed her shoulders. She closed her eyes for the first time in hours and relaxed to his touch. But before she could fully succumb, she had an idea.
“What if it were one of your games?” she asked him.
“Hmm. Give me a minute.” He went to the captain’s chair. “Give me control of the map.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Populate it with known assets, please.”
She watched him manipulate the screen as she placed the Navy ships and connected to the radar transponder showing Shahansha’s position. The cursor flew across the screen as he started plotting courses and intercept angles. Nothing worked.
“What does she have on board?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Yachts that big have stuff. An outboard? Helicopter?”
She pulled up the last surveillance photo of the yacht at Costa Smeralda. “Helicopter—here, check it out. There must be an outboard, but from the deck plan, it launches from the lower level and is out of sight.”
“Roll back the timeline. Didn’t Mako say something about a speedboat chasing them the night before last?” Cody asked. They stared at the screen as time moved backwards, carefully watching the digital display showing hours and minutes on the top right of the screen. “There, stop it. Shit, is that an outboard?” Cody said and zoomed in on the boat. “Twin two seventy-fives is more than just an outboard. That sucker’ll hit fifty knots if the conditions are right. But that’s not their way out—this is.” He zoomed in on the aft deck, where a helicopter was tied down to the deck. “Bell 429. I bet Hillary can fly it.”
CHAPTER 20
“Wake up.” Storm elbowed Mako.
He looked around, trying to get his bearings. The heat remaining in the sauna must have lulled him to sleep. “What time is it?”
Storm ignored the question. “I left you here to watch Hillary, and you fall asleep. Some things don’t change,” Storm said.
Mako pulled out the phone and turned it on. The screen remained dark, and he fiddled with the controls. “Is she okay?”
“I had a look around the ship. And yes, she’s still there,” Storm said.
“What about our course?” Mako asked, turning the dead phone in his hands.
“You don’t get to play twenty questions,” Storm said. “Now get your butt up, time to move out.”
As soon as he gained his feet, he noticed the sway of the boat. “What’s going on?”
“Wind kicked up,” Storm said.
They crept out of the spa and into the salon, checking the room carefully before entering. The smoked windows concealed the true state of things outside. Mako went to the door, but pulled back suddenly. A guard passed. He continued on his rounds, and Mako exhaled.
“Can you be a little more careful?” Storm scolded him. He peered through the smoked glass and suddenly pulled the handle and opened it. They were met with a blast of air.
“Do you think you two can stop squabbling for ten seconds and get us out of here?” Hillary said. “It’s like you’re father and son.”
The two men looked at each other, quickly turning away.
“That’s it, then. I knew it—you are,” she said. “Can’t wait to see the childhood photo album. Bet there’s all sorts of lovely memories there.”
Both men ignored her. Storm stuck his head out the door and looked around the deck.
“Stay here with her. I’m going to check out the ship,” Storm said and left the salon without looking back.
Mako went to the bar, surveyed its contents and poured four fingers of a thirty-year-old scotch. He brought it over to Hillary and held it to her lips.
“Might have preferred water, but this works too,” she said.
“Any action while we were gone?” Mako asked.
“They brought me some food, and one of the guards checks in every so often, but that evil woman hasn’t been back.”
Mako’s stomach rumbled at the mention of food. He went back to the bar, poured another drink and started searching the cabinets, removing a bag of nuts, which he took to the settee by her chair. Slouching down to be out of view of the door, they shared the nuts and scotch, made small talk and waited for Storm to return.
***
Storm crossed to the steps, climbing them two at a time. He stayed on the balls of his feet to avoid making any noise. The only access to the upper deck was a set of exterior stairs. Starting there, his plan was to work his way down. Voices came from an outside dining area on the next deck, and he waited, recalling the deck layouts. The ship was a labyrinth, and he needed a way around them. Following the plan, he crept around the corner, careful to stay out of sight. Peering around the bulkhead, he could see Cyrus and the two women. They were seated at a round table laden with food, but no one was eating.
He moved closer, trying to get within earshot, when something came up behind him. Without looking back, he hugged the wall and held his breath. The crewman passed by and went to the table, where he spoke to the group.
“You checked everywhere? I find that hard to beli
eve,” Cyrus said. “We know they are on the ship.”
The man spoke again, clearly anxious about pleasing his master. “Everywhere. But there are only six of us. The woman is still there, but there is no sign of the two men. It is possible to play cat and mouse on a ship this large.”
Mei Lan rose. “I will find them,” she said.
“And how are you going to do what my men cannot?” Cyrus asked.
“Think like them. They know the longer the ship is out, the less of a chance they have to escape. It’s either the helicopter or the speedboat. We don’t need to search for them; they will come to us.”
“Very thoughtful,” Mei Li complimented her daughter. “Cyrus, listen to her.”
He gave her the look only a father and daughter can exchange, and Storm wondered what Hillary had seen between him and Mako. He backed against the wall again as the man approached. His problems had increased now that the only two means of escape would be guarded. Remaining where he was, he continued to listen to the conversation, confirming their destination as Venezuela. Once within helicopter range, they would be flown off the yacht to an airfield, where a private jet waited to take them to Iran. Storm knew he had to stop them, even if it meant disabling the helicopter and losing one of their means of escape.
After listening for a minute, he descended the stairs one flight at a time, carefully waiting and listening at each level. Finally he reached the lower deck, needing to somehow secure the speedboat for their escape. The deck was quiet, but he expected a guard to be placed by the launching area astern. Slowly he made his way through the passageway, listening for any unexplained sound until he reached a watertight hatch that opened to a large open deck. He pressed his body against the bulkhead, instinctively sucked in his stomach to narrow his profile to anyone outside, and moved to the open doorway.
The launch area looked like a garage, with a hydraulic transom that opened seaward like a garage door. Inside, the speedboat they had encountered earlier occupied one side, sitting on a sled-like device that would slide back, extending into the water to launch and retrieve the boat. The other side held two Zodiac inflatables lined up bow to stern. It was the speedboat that interested him. A guard sat against the speedboat with a rifle in his lap. Storm studied the controls for the door and lifts, knowing when they did go for it, they would have to be quick. Satisfied he could operate the machinery, he crept silently back through the ship to the salon.
***
“If I can get you to the helicopter, can you disable it?” Storm asked Hillary.
“Why break it if she can fly it?” Mako asked.
“Because if we fail, it delays them too,” Storm said.
“Wait a minute.” Mako held up his hands. “Wait a minute. She’s the only one onboard that can fly it.”
“I wouldn’t assume that,” Storm said.
“Would you two stop talking like I’m not sitting here?” Hillary said. “Enough of this. Cut me loose and let’s get on with it.”
Mako sat on the settee watching the two of them, his estranged father and this badass woman that he realized he liked more than he had been willing to admit. Things were moving away from his wheelhouse at an uncomfortable rate. His self-image was the cat burglar with James Bond charm, preferring to work alone and using his suave demeanor to avoid confrontation. This situation was leaning toward a violent conclusion. Cyrus had already bested him in London. He knew Mei Li’s reputation, and her daughter was apparently cut from the same cloth.
There was something he could do. Something he knew he was better than Storm at, and that was finding the cases and the data. His confidence grew as he thought through a plan. He would need Alicia’s help with the data, but this might still be salvageable.
“We need to split up,” he said, waiting until they turned to face him before he continued. “I’ll find the cases and secure the encryption code. You two take care of getting us out of here.”
Storm looked at him with a tinge of pride in his cold eyes. “Very good.”
They talked through the basic plan, knowing it would probably change, but they would have a starting point. Mako carefully checked the area outside before giving the all clear sign. Storm and Hillary moved first, exiting in the direction of the exterior aft stairs. Mako watched as they descended, and when they were out of sight, he crossed the plush carpeting and descended the interior midship stairs to the main cabins. He was alone now, and his brain started to plant the seeds of doubt, exposing every pitfall of the plan. But with Alicia’s help, he knew he could do this. Ducking into a closet, he pulled out his phone and looked at the dark screen—the battery was dead, he remembered. He was truly on his own now.
He drew a deep breath and started box breathing to calm his nerves. The technique taught at the Agency consisted of a four count in, hold for four, release, hold for another four and breathe in again. After repeating the cycle several times, he felt calmer and the pounding in his ears stopped. Think like her, he told himself. If you were an encryption code, where would you be? If something was that important, it would be in his cabin, he realized. Even though there seemed to be an amicable relationship between him and the Chinese women, that code was his.
He recalled the deck layouts and without the aid of his phone tried to plot a course to the cabin. It was one deck below as he remembered. He worked through another set of breaths and left the closet.
The decks were empty, and he made his way quickly down the stairs and through the passageway. Two open doors were across from each other, and a larger, more decorative door stood as a barrier at the end of the corridor. He glanced in each open room, figuring they were taken by the women, and continued to the closed door. He waited in front of it but realized that he was too exposed. Slowly he turned the handle and pushed the door open, surprised by the feel of the solid wood. The room appeared empty, and he entered, crouching low and using a sitting area adjacent to the door to screen himself. He waited there for a few minutes until he was confident he was alone. Standing, he surveyed the room and saw a laptop sitting on a desk. He approached it as if it was booby-trapped, and he realized how much he missed Alicia in his ear. As much as he hated her ordering him around, she was much better at this than he was.
He opened the cover, jumping when the machine spun to life and the screen lit up. He sat in front of it, staring at the icons and wondering what to do.
***
Storm led Hillary forward and down the midship stairs, entered the cabin on the main deck and found the service stairs to the crew and mechanical decks. His plan was to eliminate the guard at the boats and prepare a diversion. They would then find Mako and take the helicopter. If that failed, they would at least disable it and go back for the boat. Hillary was close behind him as they moved back to the open door leading to the boat garage. The man was still sitting where Storm had last seen him, and without a pause he entered as if he belonged there, taking the guard by surprise. Before the man could raise his gun or sound an alarm, Storm was on him, using an aluminum paddle he found in one of the smaller boats to choke him.
He had the element of surprise and pulled with all he had. The guard dropped the gun as he brought both hands to the paddle shaft to ease the pressure. The rifle slid toward the water, and before Hillary could grab it, it was swallowed by the sea. He turned his attention back to the guard, but the glance had cost him. The guard was powerful. Stronger than he was. With a grunt, the larger man stomped on his foot and elbowed Storm in the ribs, causing him to lose his grip and release the oar. They were toe to toe now, the larger man’s face red from the surprise and the few seconds without air, but he had recovered from the surprise attack and charged Storm. Catching him with his shoulder to Storm’s gut, he slammed his body against one of the smaller boats, causing it to slide on the skids supporting it.
“Get him in it!” Hillary screamed and charged.
Storm ducked under a punch and spun around, chopping the larger man in the back of his head with his elbow, but the man se
emed unfazed and turned on him again. Desperately needing an advantage, Storm grabbed a fishing pole from a rack mounted on the wall. Swinging it like a fencing foil, he took the larger man by surprise, drawing blood with a quick parry to his face.
He moved forward in a classic fencing pose, pushing the guard further backwards with each parry and thrust. The action of the fiberglass pole was similar to a foil, and he effortlessly swung at the man. The deck heaved as the ship plowed through a wave, causing the Zodiac to shift again. He whipped the pole back and forth, trying to gain enough space to think, and risked a glance at Hillary. She was in the boat, priming the fuel line.
With a nod, he heard the engine start. It sputtered, unhappy there was no water, but she pushed in the choke and it settled down. “Now!” she yelled, popping the lever into reverse and turning the handle to full throttle.
Storm swung faster now, forcing the guard to back into the gunwale, and with a quick thrust pushed him into the boat. Hillary jumped forward and caught him with a chop to the temple. She jumped out, and he ran to the control panel. In one motion, the transom door opened like a ramp, and the sled that held the Zodiac slid back into the water. The engine caught and the outboard backed away from the ship, but with no one at the controls, it made a large circle and slammed into the lowered door. It spun around again, missing this time, and straightened out. They watched it for a few seconds and saw the man rise above the gunwales and try and take control of the craft, but it was too far behind the yacht, and the small engine didn’t have the horsepower to catch the larger vessel.
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