Away Boarders

by Daniel V Gallery

  "Yeah, you're right about that," agreed Fatso. "But this is exactly the same stunt the Israelis pulled on the French a year ago. Remember?"

  "Well, what the hell," said Izzy. "They took their chances that the French would stop them, but the French didn't. That doesn't mean that we can't stop these guys."

  "You know it was Russians who bought this ship, don't you?" asked Tania.

  "No. How do you know that?" asked Fatso.

  "I read the dispatches from Moscow to our Admiral about it. The Russians gave the money to buy the ship to Ecuador. Moscow told us about it so we would be alert for it when it got to the eastern Mediterranean. We were supposed to meet it, put a commissar on board, and take it in to Alexandria. She was going to stay close to the North African coast after passing Gibraltar, and the Russians were going to meet her off Benghazi. I had to write a message to be ready to send to him when he got near Benghazi telling him that a Russian would come on board and take charge."

  For about the next fifteen minutes while the radio news continued, Fatso had a faraway look in his eye and sat there taking no part in the comments on the news. When the news signed off he said to Tania, "Would you know how to call those Spigs on the radio?"

  "Sure," she said. "I remember his call sign. I can get him on radio."

  'That's good," said Fatso. "I've got an idea I want to think about a bit. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow morning."

  "Oh oh!" said Scuttlebutt, as Fatso withdrew to his cabin. "We'd all better brace ourselves for heavy weather. Whenever he starts talking like that, things start to happen - and gawd knows what they'll lead to."

  At breakfast next morning Fatso said, "Tania, you said last night you know how to call that Egyptian ship on the radio."

  "Yes," said Tania, "I know how to call him."

  "Suppose you called him," said Fatso, "and told him to meet us at sea. Do you think he would do it?"

  "Of course," said Tania. "He is expecting a call from the Russians before he gets to Alexandria, telling him where to meet them to pick up the commissar. If I use Russian call signs when I send the message, he will believe it."

  "Okay," said Fatso. "Suppose we send him a message telling him to meet us off Cape Bon. That's six hundred miles west of Benghazi, where the Russians were going to meet him."

  "What are we going to do then?" asked Webfoot eagerly. "Board and capture him?"

  "Just keep your shirt on for a while," said Fatso, "and you'll find out.

  "So okay," he continued. "We meet him off Cape Bon. Then you and I go aboard. You tell them you're the Russian commissar. I'm your assistant. We tell them there has been a change of plans and we've got to go in to Naples first. Do you think they will believe it?"

  Tania's eyes lighted up. ''But of course." she said. "They are South American mercenaries. They don't know who is supposed to come aboard. I can easily convince them that I am Russian commissar."

  "Yeah," said the Professor. "But if you bring that packet into Naples and dump it in the Navy's lap there, you'll be handing them a keg of dynamite. You'll be as popular with the Sixth Fleet as a dose of clap."

  "You're jumping to conclusions," said Fatso. "Sixth Fleet won't have anything to do with this. I'll dump it in the lap of the Israeli underground there. Our pal Benny back in Tel Aviv gave me the name of their top man. Remember?"

  "Yeah. But it will be a hell of an international incident just the same, and Sixth Fleet will be in it up to their ass."

  "Not if it works out the way I want it to," said Fatso. "We bring her in to the amphibious base after working hours, when all the big wheels are up at the officers' club having a drink. We tell the signal station at the entrance that we're a mine sweep. She looks like one, and mine sweeps are coming in and out of the amphib base all the time. They probably won't even report it to the OOD, and he won't think anything of it if they do."

  "And how does the Israeli underground get into the act?" asked the Professor.

  "I'm coming to that," said Fatso. "As soon as we tie up, I beat it ashore and get in touch with this friend of Benny's. He whips up a group of eight or ten huskies and they come down to the amphib base, go aboard, get her underway, and take her to Tel Aviv. This all happens during the night, and next morning the chances are the big wheels at the base don't even know she was in there."

  "Isn't there going to be a hell of a fight on board when this Israeli crew tries to take over?" asked Scuttlebutt.

  "I don't think so," said Fatso. "For one thing, they will be taken by surprise. And maybe, if we work it right, there won't be any fight at all."

  Everyone pondered over this for a few moments and then the Judge said, "Well, if it comes off the way you say, everything will be fine. I think the U.S. government would be glad to see the Israelis get the ship. But they sure as hell wouldn't want to have any hand in the job. Yon would never be able to keep it quiet. It would get out eventually."

  "I don't think so," said Fatso. "She'll only be at the amphib base for a few hours. If things go right, hardly anybody will know she was ever in there. Mine sweeps are coming in and out all the time, and no one pays any attention to them. After they get her to Tel Aviv, the Israelis can announce that they boarded and captured her at sea."

  "I don't think you can get away with it," said the Judge.

  "What do you think, Scuttlebutt?" asked Fatso.

  "Well, skipper," said Scuttlebutt, "I dunno. If it was anybody but you doing this job, I'd say no. But with your luck we may be able to swing it. And, if we get caught at it, a hell of a lot of people in the States will be on our side."

  "Okay," said Fatso. "I'm going to have a shot at it. Tania - you get busy on the radio and see if you can raise those guys."

  "Da," said Tania. "I call them right away."

  "Meantime," said Fatso, "I want to rig this craft to look like a Russian ship. I want to paint out our numbers and put a Russian name in their place. Tania - you think up a Russian name for us. We gotta make up a set of Russian colors to fly. And I want to make up Russian insignia for our uniforms. Tania can give us the dope on that."

  Later Adams said to Satchmo, "This skipper of ours is a madman."

  "Yeah," said Satchmo. "But he's crazy like a fox."

  "He'll never get away with this," said Adams. "This thing could get blown up into a hell of an international incident. The Russians could make a big thing out of this."

  "Well, you just let Cap'n Fatso worry about that," said Satchmo. "I been in some tight places with Cap'n Fatso, and he always lands on his feet."

  That evening they were sitting around the table with shears, needle, and thread, making up various Russian insignia. They had completed a Russian flag and were working on Soviet rating badges to wear on their arms. Adams was seated next to Tania, who was cutting the insignia out. He dropped his hand under the table, slid it up to her thigh, and gave it a squeeze.

  "Stop that," said Tania.

  Adams slid his hand a little higher, said, "I could really go for you, kid," and gave another squeeze.

  "You son of a bitch. Quit pinching my ass," said Tania out of the corner of her mouth.

  Adams slid his hand a little further up, winked at her, and squeezed again. Tania put down the shears and suddenly uncorked a right jab that caught Adams square in the eye and knocked him off the bench backward and onto the deck. All hands stopped work and looked at Tania in open-mouthed amazement.

  "He was pinching my ass." announced Tania. "In Rawshain Navy we do not allow ass pinching on board ship."

  "We got the same rule in the American Navy." said Fatso. "The regulations are very strict about it . . . and I don't think you'll have any more trouble," he observed as Adams picked himself up off the deck.

  "Not from me she won't," observed Adams, ruefully fingering his eye, which was already beginning to swell shut.

  For the next couple of days LCU 1124 cruised back and forth between Cape Bon and Sicily. Tania kept calling the Egyptian by radio, but got no answer. The third evening
the newscast announced the Egyptian had been sighted passing Gibraltar. This was followed by a lot of speculation that the Israelis would try to intercept her and that the Russians would meet and escort her. A confrontation on the high seas between the Israelis and Russians seemed to be in the making.

  "One good thing about this job we're going to do," observed Scuttlebutt, after listening to the radio experts' speculations, "is that it's too improbable for anyone to think of it."

  "Yeah. That's right," observed Fatso. "Now there's one item we've got to take care of before we meet these guys. We gotta organize a boarding party."

  "Oh, boy," said Jughaid. "That's my meat. Put me down for it, Cap'n."

  "Now let's see," said Fatso. "There's nine of us on board here. Tania and I go aboard the Egyptian, so that leaves seven. We need one guy on the wheel and one on deck to handle lines. So that only leaves five for the boarding party. I want Adams at the wheel and Satchmo on deck. The rest of you will be in the boarding party, armed with tommy-guns and 45's."

  "But I thought we were going to bamboozle them into this thing, rather than take 'em by force," objected the Professor.

  "We are," said Fatso. "We'll go alongside them and tie up. Then Tania and I go aboard and the boarding party lies low, out of sight, in the messroom. Tania gives them the pitch that we are Russians and are in charge from then on. We'll soon find out whether they buy it or not. If they do, everything is lovely and we don't need the boarding party. If they suspect something is phony and try to make trouble, you guys swarm aboard and release us."

  "What do we do then? Take over the ship?" asked the Professor.

  "No," said Fatso. "Unless they fall for our pitch, the jig is up. We get the hell off, go on about our business, and forget the whole thing."

  Next day Tania raised the Egyptian ship and sent them the message, ostensibly from the Russian Admiral, directing them to rendezvous with a Russian ship off Cape Bon and receive a commissar with further instructions for them. At the end of the message they got back a routine receipted and understood sign from the Egyptian.

  "So far, so good," said Fatso. "Now we go down and hang around Cape Bon waiting for them."

  This was a rather uncertain business, because they weren't too sure what she looked like. They knew she was a two hundred-footer of about four hundred tons and that was all. They ran up the Russian flag and hove to off Cape Bon, waiting.

  They had several false alarms. One was over a little French gunboat and the other over a Tunisian mine sweeper. The mine sweep, flying no colors, hove to and let them come alongside. When they discovered the crew were all black and spoke no Spanish, they hauled clear and let her proceed.

  Each night on the radio there was speculation as to what was going to happen to the Egyptian gunboat, but no word as to her whereabouts. Finally one morning a speck began taking shape on the western horizon. All hands were on deck with binoculars, and as it drew closer, Fatso said, "I think this is her. Give her a call on your light, Jughaid, and remember to use the Russian call."

  The stranger answered promptly - and it was the Egyptian. She drew closer, hove to, and LCU 1124 went alongside. Fatso and Tania were on deck wearing caps with hammer and sickle prominently displayed and Russian insignia on their sleeves. The boarding partv was in the messroom armed to the teeth and raring to go.

  As they came alongside Satchmo threw them a line and the Egyptian lowered a Jacob's ladder over the side. Tania climbed aboard first, closely followed by Fatso. They were greeted on deck by a middle-aged Spaniard.

  "I am Commander Voznik, Soviet Navy." announced Tania in Spanish.

  The Spaniard saluted and bowed. "I am Captain Romero de Silveo. Welcome aboard. What do you want us to do?" he asked.

  "I have special instructions from my Admiral about you," said Tania. "I will take charge from here on."

  "Si," said the Spaniard.

  "We have to go to Naples first," said Tania. "All arrangements have been made. My ship will accompany us."

  "Si," said the Spaniard, with a shrug. "Whatever you say."

  Fatso leaned over the rail and said to Satchmo, "So far everything looks okay." Satchmo passed his sea bag and Tania's up to him and cast off, and LCU 1124 hauled clear.

  They adjourned to the charthouse, where Tania indicated she wanted a course to Naples around Sicily to the north. The Spaniard agreed. Fatso sent a blinker message to LCU 1124 and they squared away on a course for the Egadi Islands just west of Sicily.

  Then Tania said, "I'm sorry to disturb you, Captain, but you'll have to move out of the cabin. My assistant and I will occupy it."

  The Spaniard was not pleased about this, but agreed to it.

  There was a crew of eight aboard the Egyptian. The engines were controlled from the bridge, so they only had one man on watch at a time, the helmsman, the same as on LCU 1124. The rest of the crew spent most of their time in their bunks or sleeping on deck, except at mealtimes. They all accepted Tania and Fatso without question.

  At dinner in the mess hall that evening the skipper asked Tania, "How long do we stay in Naples?"

  "Just one night," replied Tania in Spanish. "We have to pick up another Russian there. Then we will get an escort of two Russian destroyers and go to Cairo."

  "Bueno," said the skipper. "We want to deliver the ship and go home as soon as possible."

  "You can go home the day after we get to Alexandria," said Tania.

  "Who is going to pay us?" asked the skipper.

  "Don't worry about that," said Tania. "It's all arranged. You'll be paid in Alexandria."

  "But there has been a revolution in my country since wc sailed," said the skipper. "The new government won't pay us."

  "Nichevo!" said Tania. "The Russians will pay you."

  "We are supposed to get ten thousand dollars American money for this job," said the skipper.

  "Okay - you'll get it," said Tania.

  All hands looked relieved at this news.

  "You pay it to me and I'll pay my crew," said the skipper.

  "Okay," said Tania.

  The faces of the crew grew noticeably longer at this development and there was some ominous muttering around the tabic.

  Next morning they got a radio call from the Russians. Tania went down to the radio shack to take care of it. It was a message telling them to rendezvous off Benghazi with two Russian destroyers, the message which Tania herself had written up before she deserted. She answered the message with a "will comply" signal.

  She showed the message to the Spanish skipper and explained, "We proceed from Naples to Benghazi and pick up our escort there. Then we go to Alexandria."

  "Si," said the skipper.

  Next afternoon Tania informed the skipper, "We send my ship on ahead to make arrangements in Naples so we can get out next morning."

  The skipper agreed. Fatso sent a blinker message to LCU 1124: "Proceed Naples. Arrive about 6 p.m. Get berth at amphibious base near entrance. We will arrive about 7 p.m. Have car on dock for me. Everything going fine here so far."

  The Egyptian slowed down and LCU 1124 disappeared over the horizon toward Naples.

  On the bridge that afternoon Fatso said to Tania, "It looks to me like they believe every word we've told them so far."

  "That's right. They do," said Tania. "The only thing they are worried about is who is going to pay them and I've told them the Russians will."

  "When we come into Naples tomorrow," said Fatso, "I want to do it with no colors flying. When the signal station at the entrance challenges us, I'm going to give them the call sign of a U.S. mine sweep. We look like a mine sweep and they never pay much attention to them."

  "Korosho! That's fine." said Tania.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Capture

  Late next afternoon, LCU 1124 entered the harbor at Naples and tied up to a berth just inside the entrance to the amphibious base. An hour later the Egyptian appeared off the entrance with the call flags of U.S. Mine Sweep 232 flying at her yardarm and
requested clearance to the amphibious base. A signal came back in due course, "Permission granted. Proceed."

  The Egyptian entered the base and tied up outboard of LCU 1124 about 7 p.m. It was after sunset, so no U.S. colors were flying at the base. There was little activity ashore, and nothing to tell the Spaniards that they were not tying up to a normal Naples waterfront dock. As they were securing the lines, Fatso said to Tania, "I'm going ashore now and get a gang of Israelis to take over. You invite the crew over to our ship to see the movies, beginning at eight-thirty. We may be able to sneak the Israelis aboard, cast off, and get clear without the Spigs ever knowing about it."

  "Korosho! Will do," said Tania.

  Back on his own ship Fatso was immediately surrounded in the messroom by all hands, eagerly demanding info on how things were going.

  "So far, it's perfect," said Fatso. "They think we're Russian and that they will leave for Alexandria tomorrow morning. Now, Scuttlebutt, I want you to set up movies in the messroom tonight. Tania is inviting the Spigs to come over at eight-thirty. She can translate the sound track for them. You guys are all supposed to be Russians, so don't talk any English to these guys. I expect to be back here about nine-thirty with a gang of Israelis. We will try to sneak aboard during the movie without the Spigs knowing it. If things work out right, we'll cast her off and they can take her out without the Spigs knowing a damn thing about it till the movie is over. There's eight of them in their crew, so if anything goes wrong we may have a little trouble restraining them. But I don't want any shooting. If necessary, we'll just have to strongarm them. Any questions?"

  When a proposition like this is suddenly dropped in your lap it's hard to know what questions to ask. There were none.

  "Now how about the car, Scuttlebutt?" asked Fatso. "You got it ready?"

  "Waiting on the dock, skipper," said Scuttlebutt.

  "Okay," said Fatso. "Satchmo, I want you to drive it." So Fatso and Satchmo got in the car and away they went. Fifteen minutes later they pulled up in front of a small, shabby-looking house on a side street. Fatso knocked and waited for some time. Then a peephole in the door opened and a pair of eyes examined him skeptically.