The Bleeding Sun

by Abhishek Roy

  However, all his accessories had been taken away. A soothing sound of the waves crashing on the vessel was good enough for Lucas to understand that he was in a vessel, a ship probably if not a big boat. His location and possible destination was still unknown. He needed to figure out a plan for his escape. There were no signs of Annie either; perhaps she had managed to escape and was hatching a plan to rescue him. However as the Serpent had said, he couldn’t risk another incident like what had happened to Alpha. So it was highly likely that Annie may well have returned back to the base with the briefcase and its contents that they had identified the previous night. Lucas needed to figure out what was in the briefcase and where the briefcases had been sent over using the armored truck. Also another important aspect was what had happened to Rosmus and Romanovich. To get the answers, he would need to escape first.

  His hands were starting to ache as he continued to hold on for a last few minutes. His body started trembling as he could really feel the heat. The ventilator shaft had been purposefully sealed to prevent his escape. He held on to one end of the shaft trying to balance his body against the ceiling. He needed to find some other modes of support pretty soon to prevent his drastic and untimely fall. Suddenly he could hear the footsteps near the door. The guard had come. It was feeding time. The steel door opened up with a rusty sound. The guard came in with a bowl in his right hand. He held his machine gun on his left. The tattoo of the snake was clearly visible on the back of his neck; the mark of a Viper agent.

  He entered the room and kept the bowl on the table. Then he moved towards the bed and shouted out…

  ‘Lucas, eat this up quickly. The boss has sent some special preparations as this will be your last meal…Ha Ha Ha.’ He kept on laughing for half a minute only to realize that Lucas was not responding. He moved up to the bed with the machine gun pointed at the covered figure lying on it. Lucas waited eagerly in anticipation for the next sequence of events to unfold. The room seemed to have been heated up tenfold in the past few minutes. His shirt was soaked in sweat and beads started developing on his face. As the guard moved forward to lift the sheet covering the figure, sweat started to trickle down his face and salt water beads developed on the tip of his nose just on the verge of a fall. It would surely land on the guard’s shoulder thus giving away his presence. He just could not wipe it off as trying to do so would make him fall off the ventilator shaft. Finally the drop fell down landing straight on the guard’s head.

  The next few moments seemed to occur in slow motion. The guard touched his head to feel the moist drop. As he moved his head up straight towards the ceiling, Lucas let both my hands off the shaft and landed straight on him. He fell down crashing heavily on the table as Lucas landed on his back. The guard had lost his gun before managing to fire a few rounds at the door due to the sudden impact. The man was huge in size. The impact didn’t seem to affect him too much as he tried to stand up once again. However Lucas was in no mood to take a chance. He had been taught the Krav Maga during his training. It is a military self-defense hand to hand combat technique used by the Israeli army. It is not just about self-defense, but more about utilizing your chance to disable your enemy before he can cause you the least possible harm. He used his fist to land a punch on the perfect spot…… the guard’s Adam’s apple.

  The man collapsed on the ground in sheer agony once and for all. Lucas’s plans had all gone berserk due to the bullets the guard had fired. The other guard standing outside had heard the shots that had been fired. Sensing that his partner was having trouble with the prisoner, he opened the door and tried to step in. Lucas was ready; he kicked the guards as he tried to step in making him drop his gun. As he bent down to pick up the gun, Lucas lunged onto the guard, and hit him with his knee sending him crashing down the corridor. Lucas stepped out of the cell quickly, grabbed the neck of the guard using his legs and chocked him to death. He picked up the machine gun that the guard had dropped and headed out looking for the deck. He seemed to be on an oil tanker, likely belonging to Romanovich’s oil company. He could hear the alarm bells constantly ringing, notifying the other guards that the prisoner had escaped.

  Lucas headed through the corridor towards the stairs to the deck as the Viper agents came down looking for him. A bloody gun fight followed shortly as Lucas managed to eliminate his adversaries. However, during the cross fire he had been hurt. A bullet had hit him along his left thigh while another had grazed his right arm. Lucas was a lucky man indeed to have escaped without any critical hits. He slowly limped up the stairs over the dead bodies of the five Viper agents who had come for him as he headed over to the deck. He picked up some spare ammo from the fallen guards. On the way to the top, he found a cabin on the left which surprisingly had its door unlocked.

  Lucas slowly moved near the door and peeked inside. He could see his goggles, backpack and watch lying on the table along with the briefcase that he picked up from the hangar before being knocked out. To his surprise, there didn’t seem to be any guards in the room. Although Lucas had a feeling that it could be a trap, he had no other choice. He headed into the room, picked up his watch and put on his goggles. He turned on the beacon on his watch sending out the distress signal. If the DIA and ANNT headquarters were looking for him, they could locate him easily. Also Annie would be able to locate him and help him out if she was still alive.

  Lucas opened up the briefcase to check its contents; the cylindrical and rectangular containers were still securely fastened in the briefcase. He removed the containers from the briefcase and put them into his backpack. The rest of the contents of the backpack were missing. He didn’t have time to look for them. So, he took the backpack and headed out of the cabin looking for a way to the deck.

  By the time Lucas started his ascent to the top, Viper agents were crawling all over the ship looking for him. However, being on an oil tanker had its advantages. The sheer volume and length of the vessel made it increasingly difficult for them to locate him as he moved swiftly through the nooks and corners. On his way he managed to eliminate three other agents as he finally sneaked past the captain’s cabin and control room. The captain’s cabin was locked from inside and heavily guarded by the Viper agents. Lucas could not afford to force his way through to the cabin; it would be sheer suicide. Instead he decided to sneak past the cabin and head to the edge of the bridge overlooking the lower deck. He could see life boats on the side of the deck. However, he didn’t have the luxury to go back all the way through the agents and find his way to the deck. He had to find some other way of reaching the life boats.

  After careful examination of his surroundings, Lucas located the marine loading arms located at the tanker’s side which are usually used to load and unload cargo that the tanker may be additionally carrying. He located the control panel around the edge of the bridge. He used the controls to swing a life boat on the edge of the ship. On lowering the ropes, the boat would be sea bound. Next he moved towards the controls of the loading arms. He turned the lever to move the loading arms towards his location. When the arms were located close to his position, he turned the lever in the opposite direction to move it towards the life boats.

  He left the control panel, took a few steps back and with a short sprint from the edge of the bridge, leapt in the direction of the loading arm. Lucas was flying in thin air defying gravity and evading the agents that were frantically looking for him in the deck below. After what seemed to be an eternity, his leap of faith came to an end as he managed to get hold of the loading arm. Lucas continued to hold on to the loading arm as he monitored the situation below. He had to jump at the right moment to land on the life boat. The boat was partially covered which would ensure that if Lucas landed properly, he would possibly not be hurt too much and the boat itself would not be damaged by the sudden impact. However, if he jumped off the loading arm at the wrong moment, Lucas would land either on the deck or overboard and would be dead in both the scenarios. Hence the timing of his jump needed to be perfect. On reaching
a suitable position, Lucas let go of the loading arm. He landed on top of the life boat as the boat shook around frantically nearly taking Lucas overboard. However Lucas held on to it firmly to save his life.

  The guards had noticed his fall from the loading arms onto the life boat. They couldn’t let him escape and hence opened fire. Lucas hid himself in the boat in a frantic attempt to protect himself. He tried to return fire from his machine gun, but was out of ammo very soon. Meanwhile multiple bullets grazed across Lucas’s body as he tried frantically to loosen the ropes to ensure that the boat was lowered to the sea. By sheer luck a bullet struck the pulley holding on to the boat sending it to a free fall. As the boat was slowly drifted away from the ship by the currents, the agents fired frantically in his direction.

  One more bullet struck him on his shoulder. As he boat sailed away from the tanker, Lucas could see that the Vipers were preparing to lower a couple of life boats as well. He tried to figure out what he needed to do next in order to evade his pursuers. He tore off his sleeve to take a look at his wounded shoulder. He would need to apply pressure and strap it to ensure the bleeding could be stopped temporarily. Also in a few minutes the upper arm would be numb, enabling him to use it again. He planned to jump off the boat and silently wait for his pursuers once he was done with the strapping. He could only hope that no sharks were present near his location.

  After strapping his hand and ensuring that the bleeding had been reduced, Lucas looked once again towards the tanker. To his surprise, the life boats that were supposed to come after him were returning back and the tanker was heading away from him. He looked over the other side and located two ships heading over in his direction. From the flags, he could identify that the ships were long range interceptors that belonged to the US coast guard. He was probably in safe hands now. Lucas got rid of his machine gun in the ocean and closed his eyes as the ships appeared closer. A rescue boat was dropped with two sailors heading his way. Lucas had lost his consciousness by the time he was rescued and taken abroad the ship. He could hear the constant discussion around him. As he slowly opened his eyes, he could see Annie’s smiling face.

  ‘Don’t worry Lucas, you are safe now’. Lucas could finally get some well-deserved rest. As he closed his eyes, he could hear the sound of rotors. A chopper had been called over.

  Lucas underwent surgery when he was taken ashore by the helicopter. After all the bullets had been removed from his body, he was taken to the Key West International airport where an Embraer ECJ-135 of the Indian Air force was waiting to take him back home. When Lucas finally opened his eyes, he was crossing the Atlantic on the Indian Air force aircraft. He was strapped on to the stretcher with medical equipment placed all around him. Annie was sitting by his side with a warm smile. Lucas was really thankful that Annie had managed to save his life.

  However he had a lot of questions that needed to be answered. The doctor on board removed his straps, but warned him to stay put on the stretcher. Also he advised him not to move too much as he could feel dizzy owing to the medications he had been subjected to over the past few hours. Annie handed him a cup of coffee and explained the events that had unfold over the past few hours. Rosmus and his group had got hold of Lucas at the hangar. By the time Annie gave up chasing the truck, Lucas had been taken away. However Annie managed to get hold of a radio in the hangar. After tweaking it a little bit, she was able to track the frequency at which Rosmus’s men were transmitting. They were taking Lucas to Romanovich’s tanker which was docked at Matanzas. Romanovich meanwhile had been escorted back to the Russian embassy in Havana.

  Annie had to quickly head out of the Castle. The police and firemen had arrived there owing to the blasts and were checking every nook and corner to ensure that all civilians and support staff had been moved out of the castle. Annie briskly moved out of the castle along with the guards and other maintenance. She got hold of a cab and headed towards the port of Matanzas. On the way to her destination, she had called up the ANNT headquarters using the driver’s cell phone. The Serpent personally assured her that she would get complete support once she reached Matanzas. Her new mission was to get Roy Lucas back to base at any cost; the ANNT could not afford to lose its gem. On reaching Matanzas, she headed straight to the port where Romanovich’s tanker was docked at a distance.

  The port master informed her that the tanker was named ‘krovotecheniyesolntse‘; it meant ‘Bleeding Sun’ in English. It was scheduled to head out towards the port of Miami at midnight, but had been delayed owing to delay in delivery of some cargo. However, a truck had arrived at the port and the contents had been loaded over to the ship which was now ready to head out. Annie requested the port master to allow her to use the telephone for a call to the police. Using the phone, Annie dialed the Indian Embassy in Havana, who rerouted the call to the ANNT headquarters. The Serpent’s orders were clear. Annie would need to go to the Juan G Gomez airport in Matanzas immediately. Meanwhile the Serpent would make a few phone calls and arrange for her transportation from Cuba to the US. Annie got hold of a cab and immediately travelled to the airport.

  The Serpent had kept his word. A bi-plane was waiting to take her to the Key West International airport. The Serpent had also arranged for her immigration and diplomatic visa in the US. After landing in Key West, Annie headed over to the Key West harbor where a motor boat was waiting for her to take her to the American coast guards. Using his connections, the Serpent had managed to convince the US officials that Romanovich’s ship had a few members belonging to the Columbian cartel disguised as crew members, who were planning to enter the US mainland through Miami and hence needed to be intercepted as they entered the American waters. Also, a diplomat from the Indian embassy in Havana named Lucas was being held hostage in the ship and he needed to be recovered as well. Annie, his wife was present during the kidnapping and hence she would meet and lead the coast guards to the ship.

  Annie set up a back story on how Lucas was kidnapped from the embassy while explaining the details to the Chief Petty Officer of the coast guard vessel. She followed the beacon that was still sending signal from Lucas’s wrist watch to find out the exact location and movement of the vessel before informing the same to the Coast guard. Two long range interceptor ships had been sent out for the mission. When the ships finally intercepted the Bleeding Sun about 30 miles off the Key West harbor, Lucas was already drifting away from the ship in the life boat while the assailants were planning to pursue and eliminate him. However as soon as they noticed the coast guards, the Bleeding Sun drifted away frantically trying to move into international waters. Lucas was rescued and brought up to the ship. He was taken ashore and operated in an emergency facility in Key West. Meanwhile the Serpent had sent over a special plane to take them back home. The Serpent had specifically mentioned that Annie needed to ensure that the contents of the briefcase that Lucas was protecting was securely delivered to his office.

  Lucas moved his head around trying to locate his back pack. Annie assured that it was securely kept in the storage compartment. Lucas was not satisfied with the assurance. He asked Annie to bring over the back pack as he wanted to examine the contents and figure out what they were really dealing with. Why was the cargo so precious to Rosmus and Romanovich? Why were so many briefcases loaded to the armored truck and sent over on the oil tanker ‘Bleeding Sun’? What did the brief cases contain? Did they contain the same set of rectangular and cylindrical cases? Also who were these briefcases being sent to and for what purpose?

  Lucas’s mind was filled with unanswered questions. He needed to examine his package to try and figure out the answers. As soon as Annie brought over the briefcase and opened the same, Lucas asked her to check the contents of the two containers. Being an expert with timers and circuitry, Annie carefully removed the casing of the rectangular container and took out the contents. It was a small piece of circuitry with an inbuilt power source. The construction was similar to the APTS module that he had found earlier. However, this circuit was
far more compact and complex. It would need to be tested in the DRDO labs for understanding the complete functionality once they arrived in India.

  As of the cylindrical container, it too had a small encasement along the side holding a small piece of circuit. The container itself was some kind of a compact cylinder possibly holding a chemical or a gas. This too needed to be thoroughly tested in the labs. Based on Annie’s understanding the pair formed a remote switching mechanism whereby the rectangular circuit would switch on the one present alongside the cylinder. However the exact contents, functionality and purpose could be determined only after thorough testing. Lucas had found a few answers. Rosmus and his Vipers with the help of Romanovich’s stature, contacts and control was planning to mimic the APTS circuitry for something big. The Vipers were the handpicked mercenaries that Rosmus used to carry out his dirty work and also provide protection and cover to dictators, cartels and radical extremist leaders.