Terror Illusion

by James R Conway

When Mac and Jonathan got to the bar, there was no sign of Donnelly or the two spooks.

  “Jesus!” exclaimed Mac, “They’ve already got him. Quick! Let’s go out on the deck.”

  The deck was being swept by an icy North Sea wind, and was almost deserted.

  “If they are going to throw him overboard, it will probably be over the stern,” said Mac. “Less chance of anyone seeing and less chance of his surviving in the prop wash.”

  Mac headed towards the stern of the boat, closely followed by Jonathan. Just before the deck rail turned in towards the stern, Mac stopped and put his arm out to hold Jonathan back.

  “Look! There they are!” said Mac.

  The stern of the ship was poorly lit, and in the shadows of the deck machinery Jonathan could just see three figures. One of them seemed to be pointing a gun at one of the others, who looked like he was handcuffed to the deck rail.

  “Can you do anything from here?” said Mac.

  “I’ll try a seizure,” said Jonathan. “Gunman first?”

  “Yes, do it! Now!”

  Jonathan concentrated on the man who was holding the gun. No reaction.

  “I need to get closer,” said Jonathan. Without waiting for a response from Mac, Jonathan darted forward towards the deck machinery and crouched down behind a winch about ten feet from the group of three. He concentrated on the gunman and, in slow motion, the gunman crumpled onto the deck and dropped the gun. Jonathan concentrated on the second spook, who crumpled to the deck near his colleague.

  Mac ran forward to Jonathan and they both ran to the deck rail at the stern. Sean Donnelly was still standing, handcuffed to the deck rail.

  “Mr. Fergus, sir, what in the hell are you doing here?” said Sean.

  “Watching out for you, Sean. Now, are you going to behave or do I need to leave you out here in the cold?”

  “To be sure, Mr. Fergus, I owe you a big favour. But I’d love to know how you brought down those two guys. You didn’t use a shooter, did you?”

  “You’ve got a lot to learn about us, Sean,” said Mac.

  Mac pulled a key ring out of his pocket, picked one of the smaller keys and unlocked the handcuffs that were still holding Sean to the stern deck rail.

  Mac turned to Jonathan and winked. “Standard MI5 issue.” Sean rubbed his wrists.

  Now, Sean,” said Mac. “Are you going to cooperate or do we wake up these likely lads?”

  “Mr. Fergus, sir, I’ll come quietly. Those spooks were going to shoot me and throw me overboard. There’s gratitude for doing their dirty work!”

  “We’ll need to do something with these guys,” said Mac. He took the handcuffs and used them to cuff the two unconscious spooks. He cuffed them right hand to right hand, which would make it more difficult for them to move about if they woke up. He then searched both of the unconscious bodies and found another pair of handcuffs, which he used to cuff one of the spooks to the deck rail.

  “That should keep them out of trouble for a few minutes,” said Mac. “Jonathan, how long will they be out for?”

  “I haven’t a clue. I’ve never done that before.”

  “Well, they are going to make a hell of a racket when they wake up.”

  “Excuse me gentlemen, what is going on here?” A voice from behind Mac surprised him. He looked around and was confronted by a crew member who was wearing blue jeans, a heavy blue sweater with the ship’s company logo across the chest, and a baseball cap with the same logo.

  He was clearly a deckhand or some other lowly rank of crew. Mac thought quickly. He pulled out his old expired MI5 identification card and showed it to the deckhand.

  “This is an MI5 operation,” said Mac, “and I really don’t want to kick up a fuss.” Mac leaned in a bit closer to the deckhand and lowered his voice. “This poor chap here works for us and these two pieces of scum on the floor are heavies working for a drug dealer. This was a sting operation that I am afraid went horribly wrong.”

  The deckhand pointed at the two spooks still lying unconscious on the floor. “Are these two men dead?” he asked.

  “No, they’re just out for the count. But they are going to wake up in a minute and start making a hell of a racket and I really don’t want anyone else to find out there are potential murderers on board. There’s no danger to other passengers if we can just keep these guys quiet. Can you help us? You’d be helping your country as well.” Mac showed his MI5 badge again.

  The deckhand looked uncertainly at the three men standing, then down at the two spooks lying on the deck.

  Mac looked at Jonathan and winked, then pulled out his wallet and produced a wad of £50 notes. If you could help us and not tell anyone about this mission, I am authorized by Her Majesty’s Government to offer you a reward of £300.”

  “I’ll get some duct tape from down below,” said the deckhand. “Put a strip across their mouths. That’ll keep them quiet.”

  “Do you mind if my colleague here comes down below with you?” said Mac, nodding towards Jonathan.

  “No problem,” said the deckhand.

  Jonathan followed the deckhand and they disappeared behind a door leading to the lower decks of the ship.

  Mac turned to Sean, who was shivering in the cold wind. “When we’ve got these two sorted out, I’ll take you to the bar and buy you a large Jameson’s Irish Whiskey,” said Mac. “That’ll get the cockles of your heart warm again. We can catch up on what we’ve been doing, and I think I can offer you a much better deal than these guys would.”

  One of the spooks started to wake up and he grabbed Mac’s ankle and twisted. Mac fell heavily to the deck. Sean stamped on the spook’s arm with his shoe. There was a sickening crack as the spook’s forearm fractured and he was forced to let go of Mac’s ankle. Then Sean rammed the spook’s head back against the deck, knocking him unconscious again. The other spook started to wake up and Sean repeated the procedure.

  Sean stood up. Mac was looking a little stunned. Sean held out his right hand and Mac gave him a firm handshake. “I’ll make that two large Jameson’s,” said Mac.

  Jonathan and the deckhand returned with a roll of silver duct tape, which they handed to Sean, who tore off a strip and stuck it over the mouths of the two spooks.

  “That’ll keep ‘em quiet for a while,” said Sean.

  “I knew I had a job for you in our organization!” said Mac.

  “Well, with my record Mr. Fergus, a good employer is hard to find,” said Sean, “so I’d be prepared to consider any reasonable offer.”

  “We need to hide these two,” said Jonathan. He turned to the deckhand. “Any ideas?”

  Mac produced the wad of £50 notes again and presented the reward of £300 to the deckhand. This seemed to spark the deckhand’s imagination.

  The deckhand nodded towards the cluster of machinery on the deck. “If we lift up one of those hatch covers, there’s a chain locker down there. It’s not used these days unless we have to anchor offshore, and we haven’t done that in the three years I’ve been working on this ship.”

  He walked over and lifted up a hatch cover about six feet square. He used a metal stay in the cover to prop it open. “Let’s do it then,” said the deckhand, and the four of them dragged the unconscious handcuffed pair to the edge of the chain locker.

  “I am so sorry to have to do this,” said Mac as he heaved the spooks over the edge of the locker. They landed on the bottom of the locker with a sickening, echoing thud. The deckhand closed the hatch cover.

  “I’d better get back to work,” said the deckhand.

  “Perhaps you could discover these guys on the way back to Newcastle? They’ll probably be happy to be alive and they’ll probably have no idea how they ended up in the chain locker.”

  “I’ve got no idea how they ended up there either, sir,” said the deckhand. “I’ll be seeing you.” He patted his pocket containing the money.

  With that, the deckhand walked off towards the forward end of the ship.

  Mac
turned to Sean and Jonathan. “Right, I think we all deserve a drink for tonight’s work.”

  Chapter 34