“Bridge, Boat Deck, RHIB is manned and ready for launch,” Jenkins said into his headset. After a moment, he said, “Cleared for launch, swinging out.” After moving the boat clear of the side, he lowered it to the water. He watched Bondurant start the engine and then veer off toward the sailboat. “Boat away, Boat OK,” Jenkins transmitted as he recovered the cable.
Bondurant brought the RHIB around the sailboat, with everyone onboard alert for anything suspicious. The sailboat’s two occupants were sitting on the deck forward of the cockpit, having mustered reluctantly at Ben’s request over the radio. Satisfied, Bondurant looked at Ben, “Looks OK, XO.”
“Right. We’ll board on the stern steps aft of the cockpit. Smith, you’re first, get on board and cover the rest of us. Lee, you’re second, head to the bow and cover from there. I’ll go next, and you bring up the rear, Lopez. I’ll do the standard walkabout to check the lights and stuff, and then I’ll head below with the camera. Lopez, I’ll have my hands full with that, so I want you to stay in sight and cover me. Silent routine everybody unless you see something. Let’s get a discreet radio check, please. Lee?” Lee responded by clicking her transmitter twice
Bondurant swung the RHIB in a wide loop and brought it to a stop with the center console even with the boarding step. Ben said, “Now.” Within five seconds, all four boarding team members were on board and moving to their positions, and Bondurant backed the RHIB out to a safety and cover station. Ben stepped up to the male passenger and announced, “Captain, I am Lieutenant Junior Grade Benjamin Wyporek of the United States Coast Guard, and I am here to conduct a safety and compliance inspection. Thank you for your cooperation, and we hope to have you on your way shortly. Now, before we start, I need to confirm that you two are the only ones on board, correct?”
“Correct,” came the curt reply.
“Thank you. Are either of you carrying any weapons right now? Sir?” The male shook his head in response, and Ben turned to the woman. “Ma’am?” The woman looked up and shook her head. The expressionless face behind narrow sunglasses and the absence of any marks on what was a mostly uncovered body made Ben question his original concerns about abuse. He looked at Lee, who arched an eyebrow, shook her head slightly, and then turned back to watch the woman. “Thank you. Sir, I’ll need to check your registration and your IDs. Where might I find them, please?”
“They’re all in the Nav drawer. I’ll show you…” The man started to get up.
“Sir,” Ben held up his hand. “I need you to stay where you are, please. I can find them if you tell me where to look.”
“Fine. In the drawer under the main panel.”
“Thank you. Wait here, please.” Ben ducked into the cockpit, found the drawer under a panel of switches, and located the boat’s registration certificate and two driver’s licenses. He noted the registration lined up with the description and display numbers on the boat and passed the name addresses and driver’s license numbers to Williams to check out, although they appeared correct. Several life jackets were sitting beside the door to the main cabin. Check. Ben found the switch labeled “NAV LTS” on the panel and flipped them on, then popped back out of the cockpit. Once on deck with an unobstructed view of the subjects, Ben nodded to Lee. “Lee, can you check the nav lights, please?”
Lee nodded in reply and glanced at the boat’s navigation lights. “Port nav light on and correct, starboard nav light on and correct, sir.”
Ben checked the functionality of the stern light himself, then flipped the switch off. Check. Popping up to the deck, he addressed the man, “I will need to go down into the cabin to check your sanitation device and test for fuel vapors, sir. Are there any hazards I should beware of, slippery decks, that sort of thing?”
“You’re not going to be poking around our stuff without me down there,” the man said with increasing menace.
“Sir, for your safety and mine, I will need you to stay on deck here while I complete the check.”
“Like hell, you fucking fascist!” The man jumped up and stepped forward.
Ben stepped backward, putting his right hand on his sidearm, holding up his left hand and announcing, “Stop there, sir!” He noted the other members of the boarding party had drawn their tasers and were holding them behind their backs. “Now stay exactly where you are, please,” he continued. Ben locked eyes with the man, who had stopped, his hands shaking at his sides. “Hey, I get this isn’t how you want to spend your day, but when I step aboard a vessel, my duty is to conduct a complete inspection. This includes checking for safety and sanitation compliance, for which I will need to go down below. Mister, I will do my duty. While that’s going on, you can sit quietly right there, or you can sit in restraints on board that big white boat over there. What’s it going to be?”
The man continued standing silently for a few more moments, holding Ben’s gaze with evident hatred. Then the woman made a throat-clearing sound. The man glanced at her briefly and sat down. “Fine, but you’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”
“That is your prerogative, sir, and thank you again for your cooperation.” He scanned at the other boarding party members and gave the “hold in place” signal, receiving a nod in return from each. Ben returned to the cockpit and picked up the bag, waiting until he was out of sight to pull out the backscatter scanner. After a brief tour around the cabin, he activated the device and recorder as Simmons had shown him and began scanning the bulkheads and decks. He spent a few minutes of going through mundane items like stored clothing and foodstuffs, then came upon an image of an oddly shaped electronic device behind a forward panel. Several circuit panels and other solid-state components were visible, along with a cable leading to the mast. He directed the scan beneath the device, looking for other components and connections, and his heart nearly stopped.
The image on the screen showed, below and disconnected from the device, four brick-shaped objects connected by wires to a smaller, cell-phone sized object. Pretty much how you would expect a bomb to appear.
Ben shut down the scanner and took a few deep breaths. If this was a bomb, it could explode when he opened a panel or disturbed something else in the cabin. It could also have a remote trigger worked by a crew member of the sailboat or be on a timer running down right now. Ben carefully retraced his steps to the after part of the cabin and keyed his microphone. “Everybody stay real steady and silent and take a breath.” He paused briefly. “There appears to be an explosive device fixed to the hull. We will do a coordinated takedown of both POBs in case one of them has a remote detonator. What I need is for Smith to step behind the male POB and Lee stay where you are behind the female. When I step out of the cabin and get their attention, bring up your tasers. If either of them so much as twitches before I get them cuffed, you tase them immediately. Lee, you take the female. Acknowledge silently, please.”
Two clicks sounded in his headset.
“Smith, you stay on the male, acknowledge,” Ben said, receiving two clicks in reply.
“Lopez, I want you to step down into the cockpit and draw your sidearm, but keep it at your side and out of sight. If a POB gets away from a tasing, you take him or her down, acknowledge.”
“Click, click.” Through the open cabin door, he watched Lopez step down slowly into the cockpit, then draw and charge his pistol, careful to keep it low and beyond the view of the main deck. “OK, guys, I’m coming up now. Standby.” Ben secured the scanner in its bag, then stepped into the cockpit to Lopez’s left. He gathered himself, stepped up onto the main deck, and announced, “Ma’am, Sir, I need your attention, please.” Both turned to him, and he paused briefly while Lee and Smith brought their tasers to the ready. “I am sorry, but I have to place you under arrest for…”
At this moment, the woman growled and lunged forward, the move followed instantly by the pop and buzz of Lee’s taser and the woman crying out. The man’s arms s
hot over his head. “Don’t shoot! Please don’t shoot!”
Lee was already fastening handcuffs on the stunned woman, and Ben did the same for the now-crying man while Smith covered him with the taser. Ben nodded at Lopez, who holstered his pistol and came up to take over. Satisfied the two people were safely subdued, Ben keyed his microphone. “Kauai-One, LE-One, return at once for pickup of six. Break, Break, Kauai, LE-One, over.”
“LE-One, Kauai, report,” Sam’s voice responded.
“Kauai, LE-One, I have detected what I believe is an explosive device concealed in the hull. I have placed the POBs under arrest, and we are evacuating now. I had to order non-lethal on the female POB, over.”
“LE-One, Kauai-One, this is Kauai actual, do not acknowledge, cease all transmissions, carry out evacuation, and return to ship, out.”
“Radios off everybody and don’t touch anything,” Ben ordered, turning to see the RHIB approaching the stern of the sailboat. “Smith, you go in first and keep overwatch. Grab the scanner bag on the way and treat it carefully, please. Lopez, you help Lee with her prisoner and board next. I’ll follow with this man. Board as soon as it’s safe.”
“Don’t hurt me, please!” The man’s voice was pleading and markedly different from the arrogant prick of minutes before. “It’s her, not me; I was just hired to drive the boat! It’s her, man!”
Ben shook his arm, “Quiet! I’ll hear what you have to say when we get aboard the cutter. Zip it until then!”
When Bondurant nudged the RHIB to the cockpit steps, Smith jumped aboard with the scanner bag, followed by Lee and Lopez carrying the semi-conscious, handcuffed woman between them. Ben tugged the cuffed man to his feet and led him to the RHIB, holding him upright as he stumbled on board. “OK, Boats, let’s go,” Ben said and sat down next to his prisoner.
Bondurant nodded and eased the engine control back, pulling the RHIB away from the sailboat. At 25 feet of distance, he slammed the control into forward, turning toward the cutter as the boat picked up speed. After half a minute, he pulled alongside Kauai, preparing for the hoist back on board.
Sam stood at the base of the bridge ladder, arms folded when the RHIB hoisted even with the main deck. “Well done, XO!” He clapped Ben on his shoulder. “You and your people OK?” Sam’s expression showed deep concern.
“My heartbeat is back below 100, I’m happy to say, and the rest are fine.” Ben smiled. “How do we handle these two, sir?”
Sam’s face relaxed, and he leaned in to whisper to Ben, “Let’s split them up. I want them both under armed guard and manacled at all times. Doc is standing by in female berthing to check the woman out, after which I want her strip-searched. Have Lee do that. I’ll have Bondurant relieve Hoppy so she can help.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll have Smith take the other one to non-rate berthing with Guerrero to do the same. Our tough guy here crapped himself when I mentioned the bomb on board so that the strip search won’t be fun.”
Sam grinned back. “It’ll be excellent practice for when they have their own kids.”
“Yuk, and you can quote me on that, sir,” Ben stepped aside when Lee and Lopez approached with the still-staggering female. “I guess we won’t need your counseling skills after all, Shelley.”
“Ya think, sir?” she puffed as they stumbled past.
After they passed, Sam asked, “Now, what did you see?”
“I’m pretty sure I saw the masker, or whatever you call it. It’s behind the paneling in the berthing area. Didn’t see much, a general shape and features that make it appear electronic with a cable leading to the mast. The bomb is right under it. It looks like four M112s strung together with a small box that I’m guessing is the detonator. There might be others; I beat-feet when I saw that one.”
“Good call—five pounds of C4 would have done the job for sure. Simmons put in a call for their bomb disposal team on alert up at MacDill Air Force Base and a relief prize crew to take custody of the boat afterward. The sector folks will bring them out in a Medium Response Boat as soon as they get down here. In the meantime, we standby at a safe distance. We’re back on emissions control until we get a safe signal from the bomb techs. Let’s get the interrogations done ASAP. I want to offload the prisoners on the sector boat.”
“Yes, sir. You want me to handle both?”
“Yes, but break off when the boat arrives. You’ll need to brief the bomb techs on what you found and where.”
“Yes, sir.” Ben looked down. “About that, sir, it could have gone badly without the scanner the Doc loaned us.” His head came up eye-to-eye with Sam. “He didn’t have to, you know. I don’t imagine his bosses would be too keen over him sharing the details on that thing, much less letting me haul it around on a chancy boarding.”
“Yes, I get that,” Sam said with a wry grin. “I find myself on the horns of a dilemma—deeply grateful to him you’re safe, while I’d personally get a big lift out of throwing his ass overboard. I suppose I must lean on the net positive and try to tolerate him for the sake of the mission.”
“You remain an unyielding source of strength and inspiration to me, Captain. I’ll do my best to keep him out of your hair.”
“Do that.” Sam turned back to the ladder to head up to the Bridge.
12
Defusing
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kauai, Gulf of Mexico, 19 nautical miles northeast of Key West, Florida
1202 EST, 16 January
As Ben approached the Female Berthing room, Bryant pulled him aside. “I completed the check over of the female detainee, sir. She’s not showing any aftereffects of the tasing, a couple of bruises when she went down, but nothing actionable. However…”
“However?” Ben asked with raised eyebrows.
“However, we need to be very careful with this one, and by careful, I mean armed guard out of reach. I’ve seen this type before in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
“Suicide bomber? Must be one hell of a bomb vest.”
“No, sir.” Bryant shook his head. “This is the type that recruits and launches suicide bombers, that smiles at you until you turn your back and then…,” He drew his finger across his throat. “I got these out of her hair and a fake scar on her hip.” He held up an evidence bag with two needle-like metal objects.
“A fake scar? No way!”
“Way. New one for me too, believe it or not. Fortunately, Doc Simmons briefed me on what to watch for before I started. I hope you don’t mind, sir, but I told Shelley and Hoppy to hold off on the strip search. She might be hiding stuff where I can’t go, and honestly, they’re not trained to find what she might have. I promise you she’s not secreting explosives or a detonator anywhere. That should do until she’s ashore with the intel guys. In the meantime, she’s double-cuffed, wrists and ankles around the bed frame, and I strongly recommend you NOT uncuff her before the Marshals arrive.”
“OK, thanks Doc.” Ben shook his head. “Between bombs and spies, this place is getting hazardous to my health.”
“On that subject, XO, when are you coming down for your prelims?” Bryant asked, his face empty of expression.
“All this, and you’re still hung up on my physical?”
“Yup. This is what I do, sir.”
“OK, OK, let’s set it up during the next home port stop.”
“OK, sir. But I will hold you to that,” Bryant said, turning away.
Ben turned to the door of the berthing area and knocked, announcing, “XO.”
Hopkins opened the door and stood aside as Ben entered the small room. The female detainee sat on the bottom bunk, arms and legs encircling the corner post with her hands and ankles zip-tied. She now wore a set of prisoner coveralls over her brief swimwear and canvas shoes. She was stunningly beautiful and turned to Ben with deep blue, almond-shaped eyes that should have been attractive, but chilled him to the bone. The moment reminded him of a tiger he once shared a staredown with through a zoo window. Hopkins and Lee stood in opposite corners of the room, out of rea
ch of the prisoner. Ben looked at Hopkins, “Anything?” Receiving a head shake in return, he turned to Lee. “Lee?”
“Nothing that I would share in mixed company, sir,” Lee replied, keeping her eyes on the prisoner.
“OK. Miss,” He glanced at the ID taken from the sailboat—Laura Treblinsky. “Treblinsky. Did I pronounce that right?” Ben paused, received the same cold, silent glare, and continued reading from the “Miranda Crib Card” boarding officers carried with them. “Ms. Treblinsky, I have placed you under arrest on suspicion of violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 844. You have the right to remain silent, if you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney and have him or her present whenever you are questioned. If you cannot afford to hire an attorney, one will be appointed to represent you before questioning if you wish. You may decide at any time to exercise these rights and not answer any questions or make any statements. Do you understand these rights I have explained to you?” Silence. “Having these rights in mind, would you wish to talk to me about these charges?”
The woman’s icy stare remained fixed. “Lawyer.”
Ben returned the blankest expression he could muster. “Am I to understand that you do not want to answer questions or make a statement without an attorney present?”
A half-smile appeared on the woman’s face. “You’re not as stupid as you appear, Lieutenant Junior Grade. Now, why don’t you just fuck off and take the dykes with you. I don’t like the way the short one is undressing me with her eyes.”
Ben turned toward Lee with a raised eyebrow. “Why Petty Officer Lee, you aren’t undressing the prisoner with your eyes, are you?”
“Definitely not, sir,” Lee smiled, patting her taser. “Just hoping for a reason to give her another zap.”
Engage at Dawn: First Contact Page 11
