HARD CASE (A John Harding Novel - Special Ops, Cage Fighter, CIA Agent)

by Bernard L. DeLeo

  “Denny says a couple weeks. It was a last minute thing. I didn’t know anything about it until last night. He says I’ll be home for Christmas.”

  “You better be. I have something planned that involves some special costuming.”

  Mama Mia!

  * * *

  Jafar came up on deck of our vessel dubbed The Sea Wolf, where I was taking my turn in the sport-fishing chair. I would have been having a better time with a beer in hand, but this wasn’t a pleasure cruise. We could be attacked at any time in this area of the Arabian Sea near Salalah, Oman. I’d never had a chance to go sport-fishing before. Lucas had told me I could hook a swordfish or even a shark and it would be a battle. We’d only been cruising for a day. Lucas and Casey had pulled in some tuna and southern herring.

  “Any bites, John?”

  “Nope, but it’s the journey, young Jedi, not the destination,” I told him in Dark Lord persona which he was used to since interacting with Lora, Alice, and me lately.

  “I prepared the fish Casey and Lucas caught. We will eat well tonight. Can I take a turn in the chair?”

  “Sure. In fact if you’ve finished all your newbie duties Lucas put you on, you can have the chair right now.” I kept hold of the pole and slipped out of the harness. It took only a moment to get Jafar strapped in.

  “Do we sail dark at night, John?”

  “We’ll be lit up until we get a bite. Our targeting and night-vision gear is state of the art. We want them to be comfortable attacking us. If we get hit though, it will probably be in the daylight. We made a big deal launching out of Mumbai like a bunch of tourists. If there were pirate facilitators there passing the word out, we should get hit rather quickly.”

  Jafar nodded his understanding while studying the pole and sea intently. “Could we… I mean if we’re successful, can I visit Samira?”

  “It depends on the heat we get from this excursion. I’m just hoping we can get our boat back to the states. Lucas will go postal if anything happens to it. Even I’m pumped about having something like this back home. I’ve been discussing with Tommy and Lora about making a buck from it with our clients.”

  Fifteen minutes later we’re enjoying the calm day on the water in a pleasant silence. Jafar is hunched over the pole because he’d felt a hit as if something big checked out our bait. Casey jogged around from his prow position where our firepower addition had been incorporated into a shell that extended outward and upward, all sleek and positioned around the bridge without limiting vision. With the extra weight they’d supped up the twin diesels and added to the ship’s buoyancy factor. Although looking like a big unwieldy pleasure yacht, we had a flip out fifty caliber machine gun nest on one side, and on the opposite side an XM307 25mm grenade airburst gun which can fire 250 rounds per minute. In addition to those bad boys we had a hand held XM25 25mm airburst grenade launcher and my .50 caliber M107 sniper rifle. We’d tried them all out and baby… we were going in hot and heavy if need be.

  “Denny’s on the line. We got incoming, heading straight for us full speed, and five miles distant. They have ten hostiles. Want to go up and take some potshots, John?”

  “Hell yeah. Go on below, kid.” I moved up quickly to where a hatch in the added weapons shell extended up over the bridge area. It opened up with my M107 ready to rumble. I could feel Lucas turning us in a direction where I’d be sighting in on our pursuers. Casey moved up next to me with his Leupold Mark IV Spotting Scope and began the tedious work of spotting for me.

  When the sucker was a mile distant I began putting holes in the skiff under the water line, gradually working my way up. I smiled while imagining what those armor piercing rounds were doing. By the time the pirates realized they were in trouble smoke began seeping up on deck and they were dead in the water. We could have opened up with our heavier stuff but we didn’t want it sinking too fast. Lucas had slowed to a leisurely pace while I began to sight in targets with Casey’s help, no easy task from a moving ship with your target bobbing in the waves, but I’d done it before. I popped the guy Casey saw hustle up on deck with a rocket launcher. My round went right through the launcher and the pirate. Once Casey didn’t see any more stuff on the pirates that could mess our boat up Lucas circled around and we headed toward them.

  Casey hit the switch to pop our Browning .50 caliber machine gun nest out and trimmed everything off the top on the pirate skiff. When Casey stopped firing for a moment, those pirates threw everything I could see with the spotting scope overboard, AK47’s, handguns, shotguns, and miscellaneous hand weapons before standing up straight on the fantail with their hands over their heads. Apparently, they were used to the idea if outgunned they could just give up to be taken prisoner, and treated to three hots and a cot until some corrupt UN appointed putz let them go. They were half right. We might be taking prisoners… temporarily.

  Predictably, Casey and I joined Lucas on the bridge to talk like pirates while Lucas eased into a circling pattern around the rather large pirate skiff. Jafar cracked up when he worked his way up to us, watching three killers trading squint eyed arghs and mateys. What brought it on was finally getting a piece of the action in stopping these Somali bastards. The only reason they got away with piracy on the high seas is everyone is so afraid of world opinion denouncing any nation that steps up and wastes these pricks. Denny’s bosses didn’t send us out here to play ‘catch and release’. We’re here to find some Pirate Mother ships and a couple of pirate dens on land for our new ‘Reaper’ drones to obliterate. Also, our Somali pirate friends would not be sailing away like Johnny Depp in a real life ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ remake. Playtime’s over. When they decide to send Lucas, Casey, and me out together they expect a body count and no trace-backs. We’re not the Navy Seals. We’re cold blooded killers.

  Lucas keeps circling because we hope to attract the Mother ship if someone on the pirate skiff called for backup. Casey and I go back up to my sniper nest. He keeps an eye on them with the spotting scope while I stay ready to trim off pirate parts. When we keep circling for an hour, the smoke from below on the skiff gets a little denser. The Somalis have dropped their hands and talk animatedly to each other. They decide to try and launch their small lifeboat. Yeah, that didn’t work too well for them. I blew the head off the guy seemingly in charge of giving directions before making sure the lifeboat wasn’t worth another look. Jafar appeared shortly after.

  “Lucas sent me up. Denny called. A ship much larger than the skiff is on its way toward us. He’s really happy too. They’ve picked up communication between the approaching ship and coordinates near Mogadishu.”

  Casey chuckled. “Damn it! I get the feeling Denny ain’t going to need us to light up the targets. So much for the wily pirates who should know better than to call home base.”

  I like it. “It’s only our first day, Case. I didn’t want to go foolin’ around in that damn hellhole at night anyway. Denny’s happy because as much as he thinks we’re a pain in the ass, he’d like to reuse us.”

  “Denny said he’d call if they get acceptable confirmation from the ‘Reaper’ cameras. If they do, orders are weapons free and sail for a spot further around, opposite Mogadishu.”

  See, our com unit on the bridge can’t be intercepted by anyone. In this situation we don’t want any loose talk picked off any Sat Phone communications or even our personal com units. No chances taken. “Okay, kid, go on back down with Lucas. Let us know the moment you hear from Denny.”

  Jafar nodded and returned to the bridge. Casey and I made bets on when the pirates would start grabbing a loose plank or something that floats and diving into the water. The smoke was getting real thick so the Mother ship had a first class homing beacon. We had no intention of letting that puppy get anywhere near us. You can bet they had something more than a few rocket launchers. Casey won five hundred off me as the first of the surviving pirates grabbed pieces of mast and crates before diving into the water only one minute past the ten minutes he gave them. Soon, the ski
ff listed badly and the remaining pirates had no choice but to grab some floaties and abandon ship. They were beginning to get the idea we weren’t there to rescue them since even our initial plan to take prisoners for a talk didn’t seem necessary. The Somalis began calling out to us in broken English, Arabic, and a couple in native Somali which only Lucas knew a little of. Boo hoo.

  Jafar reappeared. He was pumped. “Good news! They struck and Denny says they nailed them good. The camera feed from the Reaper confirmed kills on very recognizable targets. The Mother ship is slowing so Denny thinks they must have gotten word about the strike. He says no witnesses. Finish up here and then pursue the Mother ship. Lucas will head for the Mother the moment you guys clean up.”

  “Okay, go back in with Lucas.” I flipped a coin quickly and Casey called heads, winning again.

  Casey pumped a fist and popped out the XM307 nest. His first burst destroyed everything in sight. The airburst 25mm grenade rounds rained death and finished off the skiff. We felt our boat turn to in a straight line for the horizon at full speed. Casey and I reloaded everything and checked our guns over for any sign of a problem. Satisfied, we hung on while in full pursuit. Our orders hadn’t been specific about what to do with a ‘Mother Ship’. Denny had told us to shadow it until a decision was made. Some ships used as a base out at sea for the pirates were captured bulk carriers with thirty to fifty pirates on board. They used the original crew many times to operate the ship. Capturing an at sea pirate base would be tricky if Denny wanted us to maintain cover and not take prisoners.

  “Let’s join Lucas and see what Denny wants us to do with the floating pirate base. We’re going to be like a dog chasing a car. We can’t climb on board once we catch it.”

  Casey followed me to the bridge. “Maybe he wants us to light it up for a ‘Reaper’ to disable. He may even have an asset near us to intercept while we shadow them.”

  When we reached the bridge, Lucas had the Mother Ship in sight and was talking to Denny as we entered. It was a huge bulk carrier for transporting thousands of shipping containers. They don’t turn on a dime so the bulk carrier was only halfway into a curving change of direction. Lucas gave Denny info while using a special long range viewer mounted near our ship’s console. Jafar steered for Lucas. After a few more minutes, Lucas signed off and turned to us.

  “We have a carrier strike group nearby, guys. Denny says they launched two 60H Seahawk helicopters with Seal Teams aboard. We get to clear the Mother Ship’s deck for safe boarding of the Seal teams. I’ll circle the wagons and you guys go rain some death down on the Mother Ship deck until ain’t nothin’ livin’ there. Then we hold shadow position until the Seahawks get here, maintaining a safe landing zone.”

  Casey and I just smile at each other. Oh yeah! And it’s my turn on the XM307. We jog back into position with Casey manning our Browning fifty while I slipped behind the XM307. We started taking small arms fire from the pirate ship as Lucas passed them to the port side before giving us a clear field of fire. Casey tilted and fired short bursts with tracers. Soon, anything stupid enough to get near the railing was cut in half. I fired 25mm bursts stem to stern. Airburst shells exploded all along the pirate deck, blowing out the view windows on their bridge, and leaving no inch of the vessel untouched above deck.

  Lucas sped up, passed the pirate bow and angled out on the starboard side. We repeated our dual assault although there really wasn’t anyone alive anyway. Twenty minutes later, we heard the Seahawk helicopters approaching. I fired one more burst as Lucas passed once again on the port side. With the helicopters in sight, Lucas headed for the open sea. Shortly after Casey and I closed up shop, Jafar came to summon us to the bridge. Denny was on speaker.

  “We’re all here, Captain Blood,” Lucas told him.

  “The Seals found twenty-six mangled pirates above deck and took no fire from the vessel. Below decks, fourteen more pirates were taken prisoner and eleven of the original ship’s crew rescued. No one spotted you guys so steam for our next baiting area. Once things get wrapped up with the rescued ship the carrier group will get orders to take up a support position within striking distance in case we get this lucky again. Great job! Man, we fucked them up today!”

  We did our ‘pirate talk’ for a few minutes, including Jafar. Denny cracked up. Who says pirate warfare and cold blooded murder can’t be fun. I had to ask though. “What was the cover story for no live pirates on deck to the carrier group?”

  “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” Denny adlibbed for our amusement. “The Seals didn’t mind. The official news coverage will be a pirate falling out. The mysterious crater where the pirate den used to be near Mogadishu will be rumored a munitions accident. Those digital pictures of all the people paying attention to your boat before you guys set sail from Mumbai have given us a few likely suspects tipping off the pirates.”

  Well that’s just swell. “Nice.”

  “I see a promotion in your future, Captain,” Casey added.

  “Shit, I’ll be an assistant director if you guys pull off another day like today. How’s your boat performing?”

  “Sweet,” Lucas replied.

  “I’m not too sure about letting you pirates haul that thing back to the states for pleasure cruising.”

  “Double cross us, Cap’n, and we’ll feed your entrails to the fishies… arrrrrggghhh! Ain’t that right, maties?”

  We all of course responded in true pirate comradeship with Lucas’s threat.

  “Okay… okay… but the first airburst round shot off in US waters, and I’ll have all your mangy hides. Cruise toward the Seychelles but closer to the Somali coastline. We’re tracking you and everything within a twenty mile radius of you. Bait your pirate hook again and do some real fishing. Weather looks good. If we get the okay, I’m going to put you guys out of the port of Mombasa next year. Just about the time they think it’s safe to come back in the water, you guys will be back to say hi. Good hunting. Captain Blood out.”

  Lucas put us on course for a position nearer the coast in the general direction of the Seychelles, slow but steady.

  “A yearly pirate hunt like this one will get us a free yearly overhaul,” Lucas pointed out. “We’ll always be in top shape. It might even coincide again with John’s Dubai fight. Denny would have to have the boat taken to Mombasa though. It would take us weeks to sail from Dubai to Mombasa. They only hit us this close to Mumbai because they were tipped off by someone in the port on the pirate payroll.”

  Probably so. “If Denny nails a few pirate coconspirators in Mumbai, you can bet he’ll push for Mombasa. When he gets to thinkin’ we should port in Mogadishu, he can take that one himself on his own boat.”

  “I doubt we’re going to get another day like today,” Casey said. “If we hit them as hard as Denny thinks, they’ll be layin’ low for a while.”

  “We’re giving these chumps too much respect,” Lucas replied. “You can bet these warlords over in that cesspool are sending out their own crews. This business where we believe they have some kind of central pirate command is horseshit.”

  I lean that way too. “We may have another good day if Denny keeps the rescued carrier out of the news until we’re through. If it gets out too quickly they’ll go into hiding for a time. This whole deal with not cleaning these assholes out once and for all is ridiculous. Since we minions have no say in it I guess we might as well enjoy what we have. I’m first up tonight on graveyard watch. Which one of you guys has the mid-watch?”

  “I’m taking it,” Casey answered. “That was funny listening to Denny reassuring us we’re covered for any approach.”

  “That’ll be the day when I trust some bleary-eyed desk jockey in God knows where with my life out here in the middle of nowhere,” Lucas agreed. “The first night we didn’t have a watch, we’d be waking up in a dungeon somewhere in Mogadishu and our floating arsenal would be a pirate ship.”

  “Would they not have an alarm sound when something approaches us since they are tracking us?” Ja
far asked as he looked out to sea where a very beautiful sunset painted the sky with fiery hues.

  “Yeah, if they’re paying attention.” That was harsh so I qualified it a little. “Look, kid, Denny probably has us covered but why take a chance? We’re getting paid well for this. Let’s enjoy that fish Lucas and Casey caught. I’m starvin’. Maybe tomorrow you can hook a swordfish.”

  Casey stared out at the sunset with Jafar. “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Night Attack

  Casey ran into my room about fifteen minutes before I was due to go on watch. “Up and at ‘um, John. We have a runner heading our way. Lucas is up and steering for intercept. Denny’s on in real time. A Dutch sporting vessel is in full flight from marauders. They must have been smart enough to have a lookout. They’re zigzagging and taking small arms fire while giving out an SOS in a loop.”

  We manned our nests in moments with Casey manning the XM307. We both had our night-vision gear on because we were speeding toward the race with all lights out. The bridge had state of the art radar and night-vision capabilities. If the sporting vessel’s captain had any sense, they too were now running in the dark. Lucas came abreast of the race nearly fifteen minutes later. He angled nearer the pirates gradually until they were only a hundred yards off our stern with us pacing them. The Dutch vessel was losing the race. I ended that real quick with the Browning fifty, taking only moments to rake the pirate skiff with fifty caliber, armor-piercing rounds at amidships. The tracers made it easy. They were dead in the water within moments, billowing smoke. The Dutch vessel didn’t wait around to find out why the pirates weren’t chasing them any longer. We went down to the bridge to confer with Captain Blood. Lucas had already given him a blow by blow description and Denny was ecstatic.

  “I love you guys! They’re calling for help but no one’s answering. They reported taking tracer fire. I think the Mother Ship may be writing them off. How long before their skiff sinks?”