Storm Rising

by Steven Becker

  She entered the left-hand door, and he could hear the engine start as he released the last restraint holding the Bell to the deck. The wind had picked up and the waves were growing and coming closer together. Mako barely dodged the skid when the helicopter slid sideways. He could hear the engines wind and the RPMs increase. Grabbing for the door, he yanked it open and pulled himself in.

  “Hold on, this is going to be dicey,” Hillary yelled over the engines and placed the headset on her head.

  Mako grabbed his headset, remembering the first time he had talked to her over one. He yanked on the harness and buckled himself in, grabbing the side rails on his seat as the chopper tried to lift from the deck. The propeller grabbed for air, but another wave had the ship, and the deck pitched the wrong way, grounding them momentarily.

  Hillary realized her mistake and waited for the deck to pitch the other way before pulling back on the stick. They were airborne now, and she quickly increased speed to gain altitude and avoid the yacht. Mako’s stomach lurched as she tilted the control left and the chopper swung away from the superstructure.

  They were clear of the yacht now, with no obstructions to block the scene unfolding ahead. There were two boats now, and Mako clenched his fists, rooting unconsciously for Storm, who he saw at the wheel of the smaller boat. Several sets of waves separated them, their crests high enough that until Hillary gained altitude, one of the boats was always hidden by a wall of water. They flew higher and turned, following the two boats.

  The boats were no match for the helicopter, and they were quickly hovering above them. Smoke spewed from one of the twin outboards, and Mako watched as the Zodiac flew over the waves, gaining on the speedboat. Hillary was descending now, and Mako tried to think of some way to help Storm when he felt something behind him.

  “This is convenient.”

  They both looked at each other and glanced back at Mei Lan pointing a gun at them from the jump seat.

  “Shit,” Hillary said and jerked back on the control. The G force pinned them to their seats as the nose of the Bell pulled up, but she still held the gun.

  “Very good. Now we’ll leave those two boys to take care of themselves. Next stop is Virgin Gorda.”

  Mako chanced another look back at her and saw the computer on her lap. She held all the cards now.

  ***

  Alicia sat on the edge of her seat. She was confused by the signals with only the radar transponders available to her. She was able to determine that the Shahansha was disabled and had communicated that to the Navy. But now, without a visual, she was confused.

  “Chopper is hovering over the speedboat, moving away from the yacht.”

  She was about to ask how he knew this, but as a gamer, the random action of the dots would seem logical to him. He might see it, but she stared at the screen, the dots meaning nothing to her. “Cody, can you go back through the footage and get the tail number on the chopper?” She watched him spin in his chair.

  He took over the right-hand screen, zooming in on different angles of the satellite footage. She turned back to her station and opened another of her secret weapons. After she entered the coordinates where the chase was unfolding, the program found several VHF repeaters, giving her access to the local frequencies. She patched herself in to channel sixteen and hailed any vessel in the area—but none responded.

  “What are they doing going back to Virgin Gorda?” Alicia asked out loud and relayed the information to the Agency.

  CHAPTER 23

  Under ordinary circumstances, the speedboat would have been easily able to lose the smaller and less powerful Zodiac, but with the heavy seas and disabled engine, the two craft were well matched. Storm watched the spray fly from the deep V of the speedboat as it plowed through the waves, fighting a losing battle to get on plane without the horsepower provided by the second engine. The Zodiac, on the other hand, was made for these conditions.

  Storm, though not a novice, had little experience with an inflatable in these seas. He had a death grip on the wheel and was learning to ride the swells as he followed the trail of smoke from the speedboat’s blown engine. Satisfied that the other boat was traveling at the same speed, he thought about his options. Ideally, he would capture Cyrus, deliver him to the Agency and let them work their special blend of magic on him, but right now, he was more concerned about stopping him.

  In the distance, he saw what he thought were the hills of St. Croix on his port side, but knew Cyrus would never stop on American soil. The Zodiac lacked in electronics, and he had no choice but to follow the smoke. His shoulder throbbed, but the bleeding had subsided, and he bit his lip as another wave grabbed the inflatable and thrust it forward. Everything he tried in order to control the boat proved futile. All he could do was follow. The windblown waves were crashing over the bow, soaking him and obscuring his vision, but he squinted and kept his focus. There was nothing technology or Alicia could do for him now. Flying across the tops of ten-foot waves, he was on his own.

  The smoke seemed to make a course change to the northeast, and he tried to remember the layout of the islands. He knew the British Virgins lay ahead, but his dead reckoning skills couldn’t tell him where in the islands Cyrus was headed. Fuel was another concern, and he looked at the needle of the gas gauge, bouncing wildly with each bump the small craft took. He tried to average the fluctuations and decided he had three-quarters of a tank left. The only problem with that knowledge was that he had no idea how much fuel the tank held or the efficiency of the engine.

  Storm’s eyes stung from the spray, his hands were numb from their death grip on the wheel, and his shoulder burned as if a hot poker had been shoved into his flesh; finally, he decided enough was enough. It was time to make his move. Removing one hand from the wheel, he tentatively pushed down the throttle. The boat jumped forward, launching him over the wheel as it crested the wave too quickly. Frustrated, he recovered and pulled back on the throttle. With the seas this size, he was limited in maneuverability. With years of experience, he applied what he knew held true on land to the water. Keep Cyrus in sight, and an opportunity will present itself. He knew this wasn’t the worst option and settled in for the ride. As long as the smoke trail remained, he was no worse off.

  The roar of an engine took him by surprise and he looked up, seeing a helicopter moving fast overhead. His vision was streaked from the salt spray, but he was sure it was the Bell from the yacht.

  ***

  Mako sat in the right-hand seat, powerless to do anything. With Mei Lan holding a gun and the computer, he was just along for the ride. Hopefully an opportunity would present itself when they landed, though he had no idea of their destination. She was shifting around behind him. Through the corner of his eye he could see her open the computer, but the gun remained pointed at them.

  On the horizon he thought he saw a thin trail of smoke seemingly on the same course as the helicopter, and he stared down at the roiling sea, wondering how much trouble Storm was in.

  “Fly toward the smoke,” Mei Lan’s voice came through the headset. “Not too low.”

  Hillary adjusted the controls, and the chopper dropped and turned towards the black streak. They closed quickly, moving much faster than the boats restrained by the water conditions. Another boat, smaller than the smoking speedboat, appeared behind it, and he thought he saw Storm at the helm. A funny feeling came over him as he realized he was rooting for his father, maybe for the first time he could remember. The boats were about a hundred yards apart, keeping pace with each other.

  “Lower and close on the inflatable,” Mei Lan ordered.

  With the gun pointed at her head, Hillary had no choice but to obey, and the chopper dropped again. She reduced speed and they could clearly see Storm in the Zodiac. The pressure in the cabin dropped, and the Bell jerked when Mei Lan opened the door and fired at the boat below. Mako risked a glance at Hillary, who jerked the controls a bit more, throwing off the accuracy of the shooter.

  “The next one’s
for you if you don’t fly this level,” Mei Lan said.

  “It’s the wind…” Hillary started.

  Mei Lan shifted the gun to Mako. “Maybe this will clear your head. You fly right or lover boy gets it.”

  Hillary leveled off the chopper and they stared at the small craft below. If Storm had seen them, he was not acknowledging, and Mako noticed the red blotch on his shoulder.

  Mei Lan must have seen it too. “Take us up to the other boat,” she ordered.

  Hillary pushed the stick forward, and Mako breathed a sigh of relief that Storm was out of immediate danger. The smoke trail thickened as they closed on the speedboat, and Hillary veered to port. She pulled even and matched the boat’s speed. All three of them stared down at Cyrus.

  Mei Lan yanked open the door and yelled down to the boat, screaming at Hillary to drop altitude. Mako wondered for a minute if she was crazy enough to attempt a rescue in these conditions and then saw the opposite was true. Gunshots fired, and the other engine soon flared and died. The boat slowed and stopped. In seconds it was turned abeam to the seas—powerless.

  “Full power to the tip of Virgin Gorda. I will give you the destination as we approach,” she ordered.

  Mako wondered what this was all about. She had clearly meant to harm him or leave him stranded in the ten-foot seas. And then he remembered having heard the one word that might account for her actions—succession. She knew her destiny and had chosen not to wait. He looked back again and saw the Zodiac close on the helpless speedboat, but they were moving quickly and the small boats were soon out of sight. Focusing his attention forward, and with his eye for the female figure, he noticed the outline of the “fat virgin” ahead and wondered if this was the line of sight Columbus had first seen her from when he made landfall here five hundred years ago.

  The island was approaching quickly, and Mako could see the straight line of a landing strip graded parallel to the ocean. He assumed they would be landing there, but just as they crossed land, Mei Lan’s voice came over the headset.

  “The abandoned copper mine.” She pointed to a grouping of stone ruins set on an outcropping a hundred yards back from the ocean.

  The helicopter made landfall and cruised by the ruins. Hillary circled, scanning the area. “There’s nowhere safe to land there,” Hillary said.

  “There.” She pointed to a barren area covered with rocks.

  “It’s sketchy,” Hillary said. “It might look smooth, but if one of the skids hits a rock, we could roll.”

  “Never mind that. Land,” Mei Lan ordered and pushed the barrel of the gun to Mako’s head. “Now.”

  Hillary circled back and hovered over the semi-cleared area. Dropping speed, she guided the Bell toward land. The first skid touched and the chopper rocked on the unstable footing. She fought to control the craft, and finally the other skid settled.

  ***

  Storm breathed a sigh of relief as the helicopter moved away. He looked around for damage, but the shots had all missed, and he wondered if whoever had shot at him thought the red splotch on his shoulder was their work. The chopper was hovering over the speedboat now, and he looked on in surprise as the other engine started smoking.

  The boat had lost power and was abeam to the seas. He approached cautiously, not knowing if Cyrus had a weapon. He slowed to approach from the side, not wanting the waves to affect him. The Zodiac reacted favorably to the changes and settled in the trough. Without the need to control the boat through the waves, he released his right hand and reached behind him for the gun. Without the roar of the engines and within sight of Virgin Gorda, he tried to figure some way to communicate the situation to Alicia.

  He saw the VHF, but before he could pick up the microphone, the two boats touched and he focused on the speedboat. Cyrus stood at the helm, trying frantically to restart the engines. Storm braced himself with the gun extended in his hand, thinking he might get a clear shot off, but the seas tossed the small boat, making aim impossible. A wave broke his concentration, and the Zodiac was tossed against the hull of the speedboat. The brief seconds he had taken to try and shoot his adversary had cost him.

  The bow of the Zodiac was jammed between the starboard engine and the transom of the speedboat, held in place by the force of the seas. He fought the wheel, trying to untangle the two boats. The Zodiac rocked with the speedboat, the horsepower from its single engine insufficient to move it away from the larger boat. He pulled the throttle back, instinctively looking behind him, and felt the trim of the small craft change.

  Turning back, he saw Cyrus jump from the transom and land on the bow of the Zodiac. He picked up the gun and fired, but the force of the impact and the Iranian’s weight had separated the boats, and the shot went wild as the Zodiac swerved backwards. Cyrus took the opportunity and lunged for him. Just as he was about to strike, they were rocked by the concussion from an explosion. The speedboat was in flames and both men spun to watch the fireball as it pushed high into the sky. Storm turned back first and grabbed Cyrus in a sleeper hold, squeezing his neck to cut the blood flow from the carotid artery to disable the man. Cyrus fought back, striking several blows to Storm’s head, but the deck space on the outboard was limited, and he couldn’t get any force behind the punches.

  The two men were tangled together now, their weight pinning them against the gunwale of the Zodiac, when a wave came over the stern. Water flooded the cockpit, soaking them. Storm risked a quick look behind. Still in reverse, the counterclockwise spin of the propeller was pulling the boat in an ever-tightening circle. They were abeam to the seas now, and he waited until the boat spun into another ninety degrees before making his move.

  The stern was on the face of the wave, the forward momentum surfing the boat backwards. Just as the wave crested, the Zodiac was hurled forward, its speed increasing with the force of the wave. He used the change to push Cyrus off and slam his head into the stainless steel bracing supporting the T-top.

  Cyrus appeared to be unconscious, and Storm went for the gun, but without anyone at the helm, the seas grabbed the boat and spun it. Another wave crashed over the transom, flooding them again. Water was halfway up the gunwales now, the weight slowing the boat. Forgetting about Cyrus for the moment, he went back to the helm and pushed the throttle forward. It took a few seconds, but he wrestled control back from the waves and straightened the boat out.

  Cyrus was still unmoving on the deck, but there was nothing he could do to restrain him. All his efforts needed to go into saving the boat from sinking. Stuck at the helm, he had to do something about the water in the cockpit. Taking his eyes off Cyrus, he gunned the boat until the self-bailers had drained all but the last few inches of water.

  With Cyrus unconscious on the deck, he looked around at the barren seas, the only sign of land the tip of a peak several miles in the distance. Remembering the VHF, he called for any craft in the area and was surprised to hear Alicia’s voice. She had him switch to channel seventy-two.

  She answered directly and he explained the situation. The radio went silent for a few minutes.

  “Come on. I need a destination,” he said.

  “The helicopter just landed at the abandoned copper mine on Virgin Gorda,” she said and paused. “Mei Lan is on it.”

  “Well, that explains why they shot at me,” he said and changed course. The seaward tip of the island lay directly ahead.

  “There’s an airstrip half a mile from the mine. It has to be connected.”

  CHAPTER 24

  Alicia stared at the static image of the copper mine on the screen, frustrated that she could do nothing but sit and watch. “There’s got to be something we can do,” she said, wishing she had access to the satellite controls that would give them an up-to-the-minute visual.

  “Got an idea,” Cody said.

  She watched him pull up a drone forum and wondered what he was up to.

  “Check it out. Two guys within a few miles,” he said after scrolling through the membership. “This is gonna be awe
some. Just wish I could run them remote.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked.

  “We get one of these guys to send a drone overhead. We’ll have full visuals and maybe weapons capability.”

  “Weapons?”

  “Still experimental. The retail models are too light to take up anything serious, but some of the commercial models are beefed up enough. Let’s see what we have here.”

  “Nothing to lose, go for it,” she said and turned back to her keyboard, but there was nothing to be done. Sitting back, she closed her eyes, trying to think of anything she could do to help them from a thousand miles away.

  ***

  Once Storm changed course, the Zodiac was able to ride the swells toward Virgin Gorda instead of plow into them, and he was finally able to relax his grip. He looked around the deck for something to restrain Cyrus, who was still unconscious on the deck, but with the tip of the island less than a half mile away, he didn’t want to risk leaving the wheel. As he approached, he looked for a place to beach the boat. As he closed, details of the shoreline came into view. Rocky cliffs rose from the water, offering no access. Finally he saw a cut around the ocean side and changed course. Cut into the rocky shore, what he guessed was a man-made channel by its straight lines and shape revealed itself. It wasn’t much, just large enough to dock a ship. It would easily accommodate the small inflatable, and he steered toward it. The ruins were in sight now, and he could see the helicopter sitting off to the side by the crumbling remains of a stone tower.

  Navigating into the cut was harder than he thought. Large swells gathered at each side of the entry, the conflicting pattern of the wind and seas bombarding the semi-protected cove from both sides. Waiting for a lull, the Zodiac yawed in the surf and picked up speed as Storm fought the controls. The seas overpowered the small boat and he thought they were going to crash into a large rock. Just before impact, a large wave picked up the small craft and heaved it onto one of the boulders. The water started to recede, and Storm knew this was his chance. He had to get out before the undercurrent from the wave took the boat back out to sea.