Hard Case VI: The Killer Inside (John Harding Book 6) (35 page)

“Abdul al-Tracti,” the one who had admitted knowing English answered.

Oh baby. I exchanged stunned glances with my two companions. I could hear Lucas excitedly telling Lynn who the hell we might have here. Al-Tracti is the purported leader of Isis in North America. I savored that fact. It would mean answers as to why the huge destructive push by Isis with attempting an atomic bomb blast in an area with many Muslims. We know they’re nuts enough to butcher each other, but they usually have some weirdo excuse for it. “Okay. You have our attention. Keep us interested, and I won’t shoot you in the head. Why would al-Tracti be here, and why would he order the death of an underling as high in the Isis structure as Morsi?”

“We are only crew members. Abdul al-Tracti flew aboard only two hours ago. He was very angry Hassan was not on board. The boat carrying a very important cargo has been missing. Hassan was to report to Abdul al-Tracti, and was ordered not to leave the ship. al-Tracti ordered him killed if he tried to return.”

“Do you know where he is down below?”

“Yes. He is in the Captain’s quarters.”

“Take a look around at how many bodies are on the deck. I count two dozen. How many more men are there below?”

“About twenty,” he said after looking around.

“Are there any explosives on board?”

“There are many weapons below. I would imagine there are explosives too.”

“We have a job for you two. Go below, and tell everyone who wants to live to come up on deck, kneel down, and clasp their hands behind their heads, including al-Tracti. You have my word everyone lives who surrenders now. Everyone dies who does not. When we go below, we will kill everyone, and the ones we capture will be tortured.”

That shocked my little bridge survivor. “Ah… are you not Americans? I…I thought torture is not allowed in America.”

“It’s not. When we get called, it means America is in deadly danger. We will do anything and everything in your wildest nightmares to protect this country. Believe what I say, and take the message down to your friends below, especially that snake al-Tracti. Tell him I hope he stays where he is, because we’ll come down there and get him. When we do, we’ll switch custody of the snake to a woman who will make him wish he had been taken to the seventh level of hell instead. His only shot at staying out of her hands is to surrender immediately. Take our message below now.”

“If…if we do this and no one wishes to surrender, may we come back and live?”

“Yes. I will turn you two in for deportation or further questioning to the regular federal authorities. In fact, tell your buddies if they harm you two in any way, we will have our special dog eat their testicles.”

The other guy began to speak, but the first one who had been talking to us yanked him toward the hatch leading downward.

“Lucas, did you get all that to Denny?”

“I’m here, John,” Denny remarked. “My God, the dolts back here in DC would probably suck al-Tracti’s dick if we don’t do something with him more in line for our own protection. His name’s so huge, they’ll put him in a traveling side show, where some ACLU lawyer will get him released and given an apartment in New York City with a view of where the Twin Towers used to be.”

We had a chuckle while also realizing how stupid yet so close to reality what Denny joked about was. It seemed Denny was giving us mixed signals. He was afraid of just what he outlined. “We haven’t gotten him yet, Den. When we do, he might be in pieces anyway. Spell it out for me as to what we do if he does come on deck in one piece.”

“If he comes on deck with the rest of them and surrenders, give him to me with the others. If he makes you go get him, and he lives, give him to Crue for the full Morsi treatment. If he lives through it, I’ll bet he won’t be the same sullen asshole that presided over the beheading of countless innocents when she gets through with him.”

“I guarantee that,” Crue stated in my ear. “He would be the piece of cherry pie with ice cream after what I got to do tonight. It’s been one satisfying ship takeover so far. That damn XM307 is one sweet piece of firepower.”

“We’ll let you know how this plays out, Denny. Our envoys should-”

Gunshots sounded below decks.

“Damn… there goes our messengers. It looks like the rest of this operation will be hard line old school. You’ll have trouble explaining this op to the Snow Whites who think we’re going to risk casualties to save some throat slitting assholes. Crue and Lucas had to sweep the deck to make it safe for us on board, and we’re not in the middle of the ocean.”

“Let me worry about that. We still have our island fortress to fall back on, right?”

“If you can’t convince someone the right people died on board here, we’re going to need it.” Then we had some crewmembers peek out the hatch. “Wait one.”

I approached with Clint and Casey ready to execute problems. I saw one of our messengers. He had a shoulder wound. The one I’d been talking to was not in the group. “I see you didn’t do as well as we’d hoped.”

“al-Tracti’s guards killed Malik and wounded me. The rest of the crew came with me. They want to live.”

“Good choice. Sorry about your friend. Stand here while I restrain your buddies.” All of his friends were kneeling already with their hands clasped behind their heads. There were eight of them. I restrained each with plastic ties while Clint watched and Casey kept an eye on the hatch. It was time to get some help. “I’m going down to get Agent Tonto. He can watch the prisoners while we go tie up loose ends and gather al-Tracti.”

“Do you need us, Cheese?”

“No Lynn. We have to handle this with you and Lucas ready to devastate the ship. I don’t want al-Tracti to get away alive, including firing everything on the Sea Wolf until this hunk of junk sinks to the bottom.”

“Understood.”

I was already jogging toward the ladder. I went down onto the shuttle, waving at Silvio and Quays. “I need Tonto. Quays, come on up with me.”

“Okay, John.”

I carried Tonto to the main deck with Quays following in armor with his own MP5. He and Tonto would hold the main deck against anything unforeseeable. The three musketeers would go below deck and root out one of the biggest names in the world of terrorism. I liked our chances because this would be kill or be killed. We didn’t know what kind of crap to expect from these guys, including explosives. Time to make sure Quay is only there as a last resort. I moved in front of the prisoners. They were now seated.

“This is Agent Tonto. If you move without asking my friend here, Agent Tonto will remove a piece of you. Any questions?”

Silence. I liked the sounds of silence in this case. I pointed at my original helper. “What’s your name?”

“Jamal, Sir.”

“I know there were a lot of soldiers left down there. Did you spot anything noteworthy before they started shooting at you?”

“They were all heavily armed outside the Captain’s quarters. They had a makeshift barricade there too.”

I didn’t like this. If they weren’t going to blow themselves up, what was all this about? “Lucas, Lynn, keep your eyes open. They may have called out for reinforcements. You still have the EMP gun on board. Don’t be bashful about disabling anything you feel like if we have incoming boats. We can always send out apology notes later. That goes double if you see a helicopter trying to land.”

“Understood,” Lucas acknowledged.

Clint brought me the first aid kit I’d salvaged from the bridge. Jamal’s wound was superficial. I patched it quickly, and helped him to rejoin with his cohorts. I turned to Quays then.

“We don’t know what might happen up here. You and Tonto get these men up and all the way aft away from their helicopter pad. Lynn will keep any unwanted visitors from getting near you.”

“Okay, John.”

Clint held his iPad for me to see. “Jafar already sent me the directions, pictures, and everything you can think of for the Captain’s quarters, including pics of the outside bulkheads. He also included the latest pictures of Abdul al-Tracti. Want to confirm this with your pal?”

I examined the info gathered by Jafar. Amazing. I took the iPad for my pal Jamal to see. He confirmed the info was accurate, wide eyed at the speed we obtained it.

“Here’s how I see it, John,” Casey said as I returned to him and Clint. “We have one turn before it’s a duck shoot for the bad guys. I say we stay behind the bulkhead, and you chuck grenades down the passageway until there’s no one left standing to shoot.”

“Simple, but elegant. I like it. I’m excited by this plan. Let’s do it. I thought for a moment you guys were going to tell me this looked like a Cheeseburger charge of the light brigade type action.”

“Casey suggested that first,” Clint admitted, “but we didn’t think the passageway was wide enough if you got slammed. Lynn thought we should go with plan A anyhow.”

“You guys cut me out so I couldn’t hear the negotiations?”

“Also Lynn’s idea,” Clint added. “We didn’t know you weren’t in on it until we saw you weren’t reacting to any of it.”

“I was just trying not to worry you with added details, Cheese,” Lynn said. “Quit whinin’. Get the show on the road. We may have the Isis air force to shoot down soon.”

“This is still about your swimming in the ocean, isn’t it?”

“Everything will be, Cheese.”

“We have the grenades,” I said to my grinning comrades in arms. “Let’s go see what kind of a mess we can make out of the Leader of Isis on the American Continent.”

“Don’t you break my toys, Cheese!”

“You’re out of this discussion, Snow White.” I motioned for Clint and Casey to follow me while our network line burned with blue fire. “Take Snow White Deville off our live feed, Achmed.”

We reached the final turn in the passageway before the Captain’s quarters. I peeked around to see and nearly got an AK47 burst through the head. “Wow… touchy.”

“Maybe we should come back with the rocket launcher,” Casey suggested.

“You two fire around the corner, and get them to duck a little. I’ll pop one at them.”

“Sounds risky, but okay,” Clint said. “Say when.”

I pulled the pin on the grenade. “Hit ‘em.”

They both leaned around the corner, firing at the same time. I waited a couple seconds, popped the release, and slid out into the passageway. I heaved it straight into the bulkhead behind their barrier before rolling quickly out of the corridor. The resulting explosion rocketed debris down the passageway while the three musketeers huddled in the turn.

“I don’t think you need to throw another one,” Clint observed.

Casey peeked around the corner. “Second that. I hope the venting doesn’t break down.”

The sprinkler system kicked on then as we waited, at least the ones still left intact. They worked to dampen the particulates in the air.

“Hey Cheese, are you just going to lie there? Get your ass up, run down the passageway, and capture the dingle-berry Isis guy.”

“I thought I told you to take Snow White off our live feed, Achmed.”

“And if you didn’t live through the attack, then Achmed would indeed be the dead terrorist,” Jafar retorted.

“True. Okay… going in.” I got to my feet, MP5 ready. I went first, hugging the right bulkhead while Casey and Clint spaced out behind me on the opposite bulkhead.

It was of course a bloody mess. We fired into bodies because we had no medics, and we didn’t care to leave possibly live soldiers at our back while going after al-Tracti. The explosion buckled the Captain’s quarters’ hatch, blowing it inward. I called into the room.

“Come out with your hands clasped behind your head, Abdul. I’ll offer you the deal once more. Come out, and I won’t hand your ass to our interrogator. I give you my word. If we have to come in and get you, the deal’s off the table.”

“What!” I smiled as Lynn screamed in my ear. “You did not give that slime-ball your word! Oh my, God! Are you mental? I am-”

“Achmed! I will make you the dead terrorist instantly on sight, little brother or not, if you don’t get Snow White out of my ear!”

“Don’t you do-” Lynn’s voice ended.

Achmed made the right choice before I got my hands around his neck after enduring Cruella Deville’s nonstop critique of my in action performance. I needed to get al-Tracti in one piece. I gave him my word Lynn wouldn’t get him. Lynn wasn’t the only one with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch. Then it didn’t matter because Abdul or someone fired a burst through the door with some very dangerous ricochets. I popped a flash-bang inside the room. I hated doing it, because I didn’t know where he was in the room. We ducked down. The result of my military flash-bang was screams… unhappy screams.

I went in to the right, covering for my partners. There were two downed bodyguards, and al-Tracti huddled in the room corner, his hands covering his head. Clint cuffed the two guards into position for restraint on their bellies. He quickly restrained them with plastic tie harnesses while Case and I kept weapons trained. We took nothing for granted at this point. Then it was time to get our primary prisoner moving.

“Get on your feet right now, Abdul. You should have surrendered when you had the chance. You turned down door number one, so you get door number two. It’s the booby prize – Cruella Deville and her needle assortment.”